Negotiating a solid lease may be the most important factor in the success of your restaurant. Rent is your largest fixed expense and it’s a document that controls your entire relationship with your landlord. Like it or not, your landlord will be a major factor in your business throughout your lease and, once signed, you may have to live with the terms of your lease for ten or fifteen years or more. Better get it right! No firm negotiates more F&B leases than Helbraun Levey. We understand the nuances, landlord tricks and customary industry terms of restaurant and bar leases.  We will help you negotiate an advantageous lease for your restaurant so you will not have to deal with unexpected charges or hassles in the future, allowing  you to concentrate on what’s important: running your business.

If you are buying a business, you will usually have the existing lease assigned to you by the buyer. This means that you will be taking over a lease with terms that were negotiated by the previous tenant. Sometimes the landlord is open to changing the terms, other times not so it is best to be very thorough with your review of the lease when it is assigned to you to ensure that you are not stuck with a stinker of a lease. We will make sure that the lease suits your needs. Sometimes, a landlord will allow a tenant to sublet a space. While more rare in F&B establishments, the opportunities do arise. Subleases differ from assignments in that in a sublease, the tenant acts as your “landlord” and you have no relationship with the actual landlord. The original tenant is still on the hook. You can imagine the complications.

A lease surrender occurs when you want to leave your space and return it to the landlord. Your ability to do this depends on the terms of your lease and your negotiating power with the landlord. If you have questions, would like additional guidance, or want more information on this topic, please contact us here. We can help you negotiate the lease surrender and ensure that once you hand back the keys, you will be released from any future liabilities.

Before you sign a lease, you have to inspect the space to make sure that you can use it for the purpose that you have in mind.  We will make sure that you can obtain a liquor license in the space and make sure that there are no existing or open DOB violations on the building that could impede your buildout. It is very important to conduct a due diligence review of a space before entering into any lease negotiations.