Perhaps this should be entitled, How good (enforceable or valid) is your commercial lease? Or leases?
Over the decades I've seen some good commercial lease documents. The key word was "some."
Most were not worth the paper they were written on! Sad but true.
For several years I was a "lease analyst" with the Bank of Boston under the direction of Charles B.Akerson, MAI ( Who wrote the appraisal bible: "Capitalization Theory and Techniques").
Escalation clauses are hyper-critical for property investment discount analysis. They are important when the landlord tries to enforce same or when tenant(s) disputes the lease.
Too often commercial lease documents are prepared in a nonchalant and highly casual manner. A great many are the result of "cut and paste" and hit-or-miss technique.
Too often they are prepared by well meaning property owners, managers, and real estate agents and brokers, most of whom have no clue of what they are doing.
Leases are "legal documents" which should always and only be prepared by an experienced and competent licensed attorney ( licensed in the state to practice law).
To add insult to injury many "inexperienced" lawyers, with little to no experience or expertise" prepare complicated commercial leases which are simply flawed.
A lease does no harm if it sits in a file cabinet.
However the mega-second a major dispute between landlord and tenant erupts the document come under scrutiny. This is when the legal and expensive fireworks begin.
The recent high cost of all "fuels" will probably resutt in some very high heating and cooling bills for many properties.
Landlord will send out what they perceive is what a given lease indicates the escalation fuel clause states and I expect many a tenant upon receiving the escalation heat "staggering" bill will recoil with total shock.
Now is the time to carefully review all of the fine print in all commercial leases.
Bill McInerney
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