Negotiate Your Commercial Lease by Dale R Willerton

When people look at a property, they usually are shown the property by a realtor, the owner, or an agent. I've personally been burned by details that were told to me verbally, but that didn't make it to the final lease. Thankfully, my lease negotiations have gone well, but after reading this book, I'll never look at this part of business the same.

The book is packed with great information. Here are some of the chapter titles -

1 - Commercial Lease Agreement.
2 - Selecting the Best Site for Your Business.
3 - Determining Square Footage.
4 - Selecting the Best Lease Term.
5 - Negotiating Strategies and Tactics.
6 - Negotiating Operating Costs.
7 - Negotiating the Rental Rate.
8 - Negotiating Free Rent.
9 - Negotiating the Tenant Allowance of Leasehold Improvements.
10 - Negotiating the Lease Deposit.
11 - Negotiating a Rent Reduction.
12 - Other Negotiating Points.
13 - Hiring Professionals.

I have to tell you that I am a very good negotiator, so I've never considered hiring a professional to negotiate anything - mainly because I wouldn't trust them to negotiate with me, so why would I hire them. But after reading this book - if I was going to lease a place, I would take a look at the lease and if it was complicated, I would hire a professional to at least review it for me. One thing I really would've liked in the book is a glossary of lease and property terms.

Otherwise, I was very impressed by the depth and breadth of the information in this book. It Is a fairly quick read and the table of contents lists all subtopics, so you can zero in on specific information quickly. If you are going to lease a property for your business - you really need to read this book. I was amazed after 10-15 rental negotiations of my own, to find the number of topics in this book that didn't sound familiar to me. If a topic isn't familiar - the chance of getting a satisfactory resolution for yourself is almost impossible.

The author has been a certified lease consultant for over 15 years and has extensive experience with lease negotiating and consulting. He gives weekly seminars throughout North America and he is a consultant for tenants. On the back cover- the blurb says to read the book once if you are renewing a contract and twice if you are negotiating a new lease. Yes - there is that much detail and that much great information packed into less than 100 pages.