Under some circumstances recapture provisions can offer
substantial benefits to both landlord and tenant. The tenant is
relieved of its future performance obligations, and the landlord
can put the premises to better use, in a direct relationship with a
new tenant, perhaps gaining rent at a newly higher market rate or a
lease for a longer term. In the situation where the tenant has
outgrown its space, or needs to move to a smaller space and
determines to offer the lease for assignment or the premises space
for sublease, the tenant may have to reconcile this business
decision with a cost of transfer. Like all lease provisions,
recapture provisions can contain traps for the unwary.
In negotiating a new lease, landlords and tenants both would do
well to pay particular attention to the language of the recapture
provision that describes the triggering event. Landlords will want
to have some certainty as to whether or not the tenant has
triggered the provision. A well
