What should I check before signing a lease?

Work through five groups of terms: the money terms (rent, escalation, CAM/NNN pass-throughs, deposits, and fees), the exit terms (length, early termination, holdover, renewal, and assignment), the liability terms (personal guaranty, indemnification, insurance, repairs, and surrender condition), the dispute terms (attorney fees, jury or arbitration clauses, governing law, and default cure periods), and the fine print (auto-renewal, landlord entry, alterations, and use restrictions). The clauses that cost tenants the most are rarely the rent number on page one — they are the exit and liability terms buried later in the document.

Is there a difference between a residential and a commercial lease checklist?

The structure is the same but the stakes differ. Residential leases are constrained by state landlord-tenant statutes that cap deposits, require habitability, and limit some fees. Commercial leases are largely a matter of negotiation, so they routinely carry personal guaranties, CAM and NNN pass-throughs, restoration obligations, and holdover multipliers that have no residential equivalent. A commercial tenant reviews the same five groups but pays closest attention to the liability and money terms.

What are the most expensive lease clauses to miss?

The four that most often produce surprise five-figure bills are: a personal guaranty that puts your own assets behind the company's lease; a holdover clause that resets rent to 150 to 200 percent if you stay past the end date; uncapped CAM or NNN pass-throughs that grow faster than base rent; and a restoration or surrender clause requiring you to return the space to its original condition at your cost. None of these appear in the headline rent figure.

Can I negotiate lease terms after the landlord sends the lease?

A landlord's first draft is a starting position, not a final one. The terms most commonly adjusted in negotiated leases include guaranty caps and burn-off provisions, annual caps on CAM increases, a defined early-termination right, and cure periods before default. Whether a given landlord will move depends on market conditions and leverage, but the document as sent is rarely the document that gets signed.

Should I have a lawyer review my lease before signing?

Leases at higher dollar exposure or with personal guaranties are commonly reviewed by counsel before signing, and a checklist like this one helps you spot which terms are worth that review. A checklist and an automated scan can tell you where the risks are; the legal judgment about what to do with that information is yours.

The Lease Checklist: What to Review Before You Sign

Your landlord's attorney spent hours on this document. You are getting an afternoon. A checklist will not replace that attorney, but it closes the gap that landlords count on: the terms you never thought to look for. Read through the five groups below with your actual lease open beside you, and mark every item you cannot answer from the text. The unanswered ones are your shortlist for questions, negotiation, or counsel review.

How to Use This Checklist

This is an observational checklist: each item tells you what to find in the document and why that term matters, not what decision to make. Confirm what your lease actually says for each point. Where a term is missing, that absence is itself information — a lease with no cap on CAM increases and no early-termination right is telling you where your exposure sits. The legal judgment about what to do with what you find is yours.

1. The Money Terms

The headline rent is rarely the whole cost. These items are where the real number hides.

Base rent and what it actually covers. Confirm whether rent is gross (most costs included) or net. In a gross lease the landlord absorbs operating costs; in a net lease you do.
Rent escalation. Find the annual increase — a fixed percentage, a CPI tie, or a stepped schedule. A rent escalation clause compounds, so a 4% annual bump is far more over a five-year term than it looks on year one.
CAM, NNN, and pass-throughs. Confirm whether you owe a share of common area maintenance, taxes, and insurance, and whether those increases are capped. CAM charges with no annual cap are one of the most common sources of surprise commercial bills.
Security deposit and its return terms. Confirm the amount, the conditions for return, and the deadline. Residential deposits are capped and timed by state law; commercial deposits are not.
Every named fee. Late fees, application fees, administrative fees, and amenity fees add up. The hidden fees page covers the ones most often overlooked.

2. The Exit Terms

Getting out of a lease is harder and more expensive than getting in. These terms decide how much it costs to leave — planned or not.

Lease length and the real end date. Confirm the term and exactly when it expires. The end date drives the holdover, renewal, and notice clocks below.
Early termination. Find whether you can break the lease at all, and at what cost. Many leases are silent here, which means there is no right to leave early. The early termination cost calculator estimates the exposure.
Holdover rent. Confirm what happens if you stay past the end date. A holdover clause commonly resets rent to 150–200% — your $4,000 rent can become $8,000 the day after expiry.
Renewal options and notice windows. Find the renewal terms and the deadline to exercise or decline them. A short or silent notice window is how an auto-renewal locks you into another term by default.
Assignment and subletting. Confirm whether you can transfer the lease if your plans change. A lease assignment blocked by landlord consent limits your exit options.

3. The Liability Terms

This group decides whose assets are on the line and who pays when something goes wrong. For commercial tenants it is the most consequential section in the document.

Personal guaranty. Confirm whether you are personally guaranteeing the lease, and whether the guaranty is capped or time-limited. A personal guaranty puts your own assets behind the company's obligations; negotiated leases commonly include a dollar cap or a burn-off after on-time payment. See also guaranty alternatives.
Indemnification. Find who indemnifies whom, and whether it is mutual. A one-way indemnification clause can make you responsible for claims you did not cause.
Insurance requirements. Confirm the coverage types, limits, and additional-insured requirements. Underestimating these is a recurring source of unbudgeted cost.
Repairs and maintenance. Confirm which systems you maintain — HVAC, in particular, is often pushed to the tenant. Maintenance responsibility for a rooftop unit can be a five-figure line.
Restoration and surrender condition. Find the condition the lease requires the space to be returned in. A restoration clause requiring removal of your build-out at lease end is a cost most tenants never price in.

4. The Dispute Terms

Nobody reads these until there is a dispute — which is exactly when they decide the outcome.

Attorney fees. Confirm whether the fee-shifting is one-way (landlord only) or mutual. A one-way attorney fees clause means you can pay the landlord's legal bill even in a fight you started reasonably.
Jury trial waiver and arbitration. Find whether you are waiving a jury trial or agreeing to arbitration. A jury trial waiver changes how — and how expensively — any future dispute is resolved.
Default and cure periods. Confirm how default is defined and how long you get to fix a problem before consequences trigger. A short or absent cure period turns a missed payment into a fast eviction.
Governing law and venue. Find which state's law applies and where disputes are heard — it is not always where the property sits.

5. The Fine Print

The last group is the miscellany that landlords assume you will skim. Some of it is routine; some of it is not.

Landlord entry rights. Confirm the notice the landlord must give before entering. Landlord entry rules are set by statute for residential tenants and by the lease for commercial ones.
Use clause and exclusivity. Confirm what you are permitted to do in the space, and whether you have any protection from competing tenants. A narrow use clause can block a future pivot.
Alterations and improvements. Find what you may change, what approvals you need, and who owns the improvements at the end.
Estoppel and subordination. Confirm what you are agreeing to sign later on the landlord's request. An estoppel certificate obligation is routine but worth understanding before it lands on a deadline.

Key Takeaways

The expensive terms are the exit and liability clauses, not the headline rent.
A missing protection — no CAM cap, no early-termination right, no cure period — is information, not a gap to ignore.
Commercial tenants carry exposure (guaranty, restoration, CAM) that residential tenants do not, because statute protects far less of a commercial deal.
A landlord's first draft is a starting position; guaranty caps, CAM caps, and cure periods are commonly negotiated.
Use the checklist to build a shortlist of unanswered terms, then decide what is worth a question, a negotiation, or counsel review.

Frequently Asked Questions

What should I check before signing a lease?: Work through five groups of terms: the money terms (rent, escalation, CAM/NNN pass-throughs, deposits, and fees), the exit terms (length, early termination, holdover, renewal, and assignment), the liability terms (personal guaranty, indemnification, insurance, repairs, and surrender condition), the dispute terms (attorney fees, jury or arbitration clauses, governing law, and default cure periods), and the fine print (auto-renewal, landlord entry, alterations, and use restrictions). The clauses that cost tenants the most are rarely the rent number on page one — they are the exit and liability terms buried later in the document.
Is there a difference between a residential and a commercial lease checklist?: The structure is the same but the stakes differ. Residential leases are constrained by state landlord-tenant statutes that cap deposits, require habitability, and limit some fees. Commercial leases are largely a matter of negotiation, so they routinely carry personal guaranties, CAM and NNN pass-throughs, restoration obligations, and holdover multipliers that have no residential equivalent. A commercial tenant reviews the same five groups but pays closest attention to the liability and money terms.
What are the most expensive lease clauses to miss?: The four that most often produce surprise five-figure bills are: a personal guaranty that puts your own assets behind the company's lease; a holdover clause that resets rent to 150 to 200 percent if you stay past the end date; uncapped CAM or NNN pass-throughs that grow faster than base rent; and a restoration or surrender clause requiring you to return the space to its original condition at your cost. None of these appear in the headline rent figure.
Can I negotiate lease terms after the landlord sends the lease?: A landlord's first draft is a starting position, not a final one. The terms most commonly adjusted in negotiated leases include guaranty caps and burn-off provisions, annual caps on CAM increases, a defined early-termination right, and cure periods before default. Whether a given landlord will move depends on market conditions and leverage, but the document as sent is rarely the document that gets signed.
Should I have a lawyer review my lease before signing?: Leases at higher dollar exposure or with personal guaranties are commonly reviewed by counsel before signing, and a checklist like this one helps you spot which terms are worth that review. A checklist and an automated scan can tell you where the risks are; the legal judgment about what to do with that information is yours.