Looking forward to a new chapter in your business, you just moved into your new office space. Your old office building is, however, haunting you after receiving an invoice from your prior landlord for restoration obligations. Most office leases contain a relatively innocuous provision commonly referred to as the “Surrender Clause” which spells out the obligations of the tenant to restore their premises to a certain condition upon lease expiration or termination. Many tenants pay little attention to this provision in lease negotiations based on the conventional wisdom that the landlord will likely demolish their space and rebuild it for a new tenant. In this post, I outline what tenants should consider in limiting their liability when surrendering their premises.
