Free Rent

Opening a business, or moving your business location, can be an extremely expensive endeavor. Aside from the cost of employees, inventory, and supplies, rent often is a business' largest monthly expense. Luckily, many landlords understand this and are willing to work out "free rent periods" upon the signing of a new lease or after lease renewal negotiations.

What is a "free rent" period? A free rent period is a period of time when the tenant can use and occupy the leased space without needing to make its monthly rent payment. The length of the lease term, the size of the tenant's business and negotiating power, the related issues of which party (between landlord and tenant) is responsible for the nature of the work needed to prepare the space for the tenant's occupancy will often impact the free rent period negotiations between a landlord and a tenant. For example, a landlord will likely grant a generous free rent period to a large institutional tenant that is