Commercial Lease Review: Know What That Lease Actually Costs You.
Tenant-side review of a commercial lease: the guaranty, the CAM, the exit, and the total over the full term.
Quick answer
What should a tenant check in a commercial lease?
Work out what the base rent costs over the full term with its escalations, and how common-area (CAM) charges are added on top, then check whether CAM is capped and auditable; whether you have signed a personal guaranty and how far it reaches; whether you can assign or sublet if you sell the business; the renewal option and its notice date; and who pays for repairs and replacements.
Who this commercial lease review is for
- Small businesses leasing retail, office, restaurant, medical or industrial space
- Owners renewing a lease or taking over one as part of a business purchase
- Franchisees reviewing the lease that comes with a location
- Anyone asked to personally guarantee a business lease
What's at stake
The Commercial Lease clauses most people miss, and what they can cost you.
A personal guaranty can outlive the business
An unlimited guaranty with no burn-off puts your own assets behind every month of the term, even if the business closes.
Uncapped CAM is an open cheque
Common area charges set by the landlord’s future spending, with no cap and no audit right, are the cost most tenants never see coming.
The total is bigger than the rent
We add up base rent, escalations and pass-throughs across the whole term so you see one number before you sign, not after.
What the commercial lease review checks
- Personal guaranty: scope, cap, and burn-off conditions
- CAM: definition, cap, admin fee, exclusions, audit right
- Total cost over the full term and effective rent per sq ft
- Assignment and sublease: can you ever get out?
- Renewal options, rent reset and the notice deadline
- Default remedies: acceleration, landlord lien, cure periods
What you get
- Base rent over the full term with escalations, calculated in code
- Key dates, including renewal and notice deadlines
- Every finding quoting the clause and the page it is on
- Questions to raise with the landlord where the lease is silent
How to review a commercial lease
- 1
Upload the lease
The whole lease with exhibits and any guaranty. Long leases are fine: every page is read and you get one report.
- 2
Choose your business type and state
Retail, restaurant, office, medical and industrial tenants face different traps; the state sets the law notes.
- 3
See the cost and the dates
Base rent and its escalations totalled over the term, calculated in code, with the renewal and notice dates laid out.
- 4
Negotiate
Questions to put to the landlord, a redline and a negotiation email.
7 red flags in a commercial lease
What the review looks for first, and why each one matters.
An unlimited personal guaranty
Your personal assets stand behind every remaining year of rent, even after the business closes.
Uncapped CAM with no audit right
You pay a share of the landlord’s spending with no ceiling and no way to check it.
Rent acceleration on default
One default can make the whole remaining term fall due at once.
No right to assign if you sell the business
A buyer may be unable to take the lease, which can sink a sale.
A renewal option that must be exercised a year or more ahead
Miss the date and you lose the right to stay.
Tenant pays to replace roof, structure or HVAC
Capital replacements can cost more than a year’s rent.
Relocation right for the landlord
The landlord can move you, sometimes at your cost.
Commercial Lease terms explained
- Triple net (NNN) lease
- A lease where the tenant pays base rent plus a share of property taxes, insurance and maintenance.
- Common area maintenance (CAM)
- Charges for the upkeep of shared areas, passed through to tenants in proportion to their space.
- CAM cap
- A limit on how much CAM charges can rise each year; cumulative and non-cumulative caps behave very differently.
- Personal guaranty
- A promise by the owner personally to pay what the business owes under the lease.
- Good-guy guaranty
- A guaranty that ends when the tenant gives proper notice, vacates and hands back the keys.
- Estoppel certificate
- A statement the tenant signs confirming the lease terms, often for the landlord’s lender or buyer.
- SNDA
- A subordination, non-disturbance and attornment agreement, which protects the tenant if the landlord’s lender forecloses.
Why review it with ClauseAudit
Results in minutes
Most contracts are read in about a minute; very long documents are split, read in full and returned as one report.
Read for your state
Commercial tenancy law varies by state and gives tenants far fewer protections than residential law. We show the general US position and tell you exactly what to confirm locally; we cite a state rule only once it has been checked against its source.
A fraction of a lawyer’s fee
From $19 a review. Take the report to an attorney and the conversation starts where it matters.
Plain English + a redline
Every risk explained, with a downloadable redline and a negotiation email.
One plan covers all eleven analyzers: Employment, Freelance, NDA, SaaS, Lease, Commercial Lease, Equipment & Vendor, MCA & Business Loan, Franchise, Business Purchase and Operating Agreement. Use your credits on any contract type.
Commercial Lease contract FAQs
What should a tenant check in a commercial lease?
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Work out what the base rent costs over the full term with its escalations, and how common-area (CAM) charges are added on top, then check whether CAM is capped and auditable; whether you have signed a personal guaranty and how far it reaches; whether you can assign or sublet if you sell the business; the renewal option and its notice date; and who pays for repairs and replacements.
Should I sign a personal guaranty on a commercial lease?
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Landlords routinely ask, and a small tenant often cannot avoid one entirely. What is negotiable is the shape: a cap on the amount, a burn-off after a period of on-time payment, or a good-guy guaranty that ends when you hand back the keys properly. We flag which of those your lease has.
What is a fair CAM cap?
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The cap matters less than whether it is cumulative or compounding, and what is excluded. A cap that resets annually is far weaker than one measured from the base year. We report the cap, its type, the admin fee, and whether you have an audit right.
How is the total cost of a commercial lease calculated?
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We add base rent across the term with its stated escalations, in code rather than by the model, and list every assumption so you can check it. CAM, taxes and insurance come on top; the report shows how CAM is charged and capped so you can estimate that part with the landlord’s figures.
Can the review handle a very long lease?
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Yes. Leases with long exhibits are split, read in full and combined into one report, billed by pages.
What does a commercial lease agreement review cover?
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A commercial lease agreement review covers base rent and escalations, operating expenses and CAM charges, the personal guarantee, term and renewal options, permitted use and exclusivity, repair and maintenance duties, assignment and subletting, default and cure periods, and relocation or early termination rights. ClauseAudit's automated review reads the lease from the tenant's side and estimates the total cost over the term.
What should be included in a commercial lease agreement?
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A commercial lease agreement should include the premises and permitted use, the term and any renewal options, base rent and escalations, how operating expenses or CAM charges are shared, the security deposit and any personal guarantee, repair and maintenance duties, insurance, assignment and subletting rights, default and cure periods, and what happens at the end of the lease.
Related reviews
Franchise review
Every Item from fees to financials, what the fees cost at your own revenue figure, and how many franchisees have left the system, from a 400-page FDD in minutes.
Business Purchase review
Where the price really goes, what the seller note costs, what can be claimed after closing and for how long, read from your side of the deal.
Equipment & Vendor review
What it really costs, when you have to cancel to stop it renewing, and what you owe if the equipment fails or the vendor disappears.
Check your commercial lease before you sign
Upload it, choose your options and get the report. One plan covers all eleven analyzers.
Review my commercial leaseWritten and maintained by the ClauseAudit team. Last reviewed . General information, not legal advice, and not reviewed by an attorney. For a high-stakes agreement, consult a qualified attorney.
Commercial Lease guides
Plain-English explainers on the clauses this analyzer checks.
- Commercial Lease Basics: Personal Guarantees, CAM Charges, and Everything Residential Tenants Never See
- Commercial Lease for a Small Business: The 8 Clauses to Negotiate
- Commercial Lease Red Flags: 14 Clauses Small Business Tenants Should Fix Before Signing
- Triple Net Commercial Lease (NNN) Explained: What You Really Pay Beyond Base Rent
- Good Guy Guarantee in a Commercial Lease: How It Works, What It Covers and How to Get One
- Commercial Lease Rent Escalation and Renewal Options: Fixed Bumps, CPI and Market Resets
- State Commercial Financing Disclosure Laws: Which States Require Them (2026)
- Commercial Lease Review Checklist for Tenants (Printable)
- What Is Included in CAM Charges? A Commercial Lease Guide
- How to Get Out of a Personal Guarantee on a Commercial Lease
- Can a Commercial Lease Be Broken? Exit Options for Tenants
Ready to check a lease? Upload it with its exhibits and amendments, any length up to 1,200 pages.
Review my leaseWhat gets checked depends on what you do
The same clause carries different weight depending on who signs it. An exclusivity clause is close to existential for a restaurant and near-irrelevant for a warehouse. We run 40 checks and weight them by your business.
Restaurant, café or bar
Food service, including takeaway and ghost kitchens
- Exclusivity, so the landlord cannot put a competing concept next door
- Permitted use written narrowly enough to block a menu or format change
- Grease trap, venting, and hood responsibility
Medical or dental practice
Clinics, dental surgeries, physiotherapy, veterinary
- HVAC and plumbing replacement liability, which runs high with equipment
- Hazardous and biohazard waste handling and indemnity
- Exclusivity against a competing practice in the same building
Retail store
Shops, boutiques, showrooms
- Co-tenancy, so an anchor tenant leaving gives you an exit or rent relief
- Continuous operation and minimum trading hours
- Percentage rent and what counts as gross sales
Salon, spa or personal care
Hair, beauty, nails, barbers, massage
- Plumbing and water supply responsibility for wash stations
- Ventilation for chemical treatments
- Exclusivity against a competing salon in the same centre
Gym or fitness studio
Gyms, yoga and pilates studios, martial arts
- Noise and vibration covenants, and complaints from neighbours
- Floor loading limits for equipment
- Hours of access, since members expect early and late
Office
Professional services, agencies, back office
- CAM definitions and caps, the main variable cost
- Operating expense gross-ups and base-year manipulation
- Landlord relocation rights
Warehouse or industrial
Storage, light manufacturing, distribution
- Roof, structure and slab responsibility
- Environmental indemnity and prior contamination
- Loading dock and yard rights
Covers all 50 states and DC. Where a state rule has been verified against its statute we cite it; everywhere else we explain the general US position and tell you what to confirm locally. We never invent a citation. Pricing.