Real Estate Transactions Attorney in Hopkins, Minnesota

Real Estate Advice for Small Businesses

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Well, it depends upon the size of business you are. A mom and pop operation think they’re just running a little storefront, and they may not believe that a lease agreement is all that important. And it may just be an oral month-to-month lease agreement. Any lease agreement, any legal document you sign is important.

So many times – and I do it myself and have done it myself where they hand you the paper, you see all the small print, you don’t read it, you just sign it. Something goes wrong, that small print becomes important. So with the mom and pop operation, I think that it doesn’t need to be a 25-page lease because you’re not renting 100,000 square feet of space. But I think it’s important that they understand what is in that lease, what their rights are, what the landlord’s rights are, and what their obligations and responsibilities are with respect to things like maintenance, insurance, things of that nature.

And so then you go on the flipside to maybe a bigger commercial building that is bigger. There are so many issues that arise in a big commercial situation with a landlord and a tenant. And my clients say, “Well, what do they need all this for?” And I explained to them that pretty much every paragraph is in there because there’s been a lawsuit over that issue. And once that happens, it gets added to the next lease. And then there’s another lawsuit and that gets added to the next lease. The next thing you know you have 25-page leases so that you can take care of any problems that are gonna arise.

The importance is, is that something like a lease, I don’t think that they’re made to be relied upon when everything goes well. The lease is there when things don’t go well, when something happens. What party’s at fault? What are the parties’ duties and obligations? Somebody gets hurt on the premises, who’s liable for that? What type of insurance coverage is there? What about the utilities? I think that those are all important things with the lease. And the most important thing is, is if a party is sophisticated enough to read it and understand the legal issues, great, that’s fine. But if they’re not, then I think they definitely need to seek the aid of legal counsel.

Minneapolis Family Law, Real Estate & Estate Planning Attorney John Brandt, talks about what businesses should keep in mind when entering into a lease agreement.

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