Commercial Lease Agreement

Fixed End Date
A lease with a fixed end date gives certainty of term for both the landlord and the tenant. It specifies the exact day the tenancy will end. The advantage here is that neither party has to give notice to terminate the lease, it simply ends on the specified date. In a fixed end date lease, the landlord cannot increase the rent, or change any other terms of the lease unless he specifically reserves the right in the lease, and the tenant agrees to the changes. If the tenant remains past the specified date the landlord can either: (a) accept rental payments and have the lease continue as a month-to-month tenancy with the same rules as the expired fixed end date lease; (b) sign a new lease; or (c) start eviction proceedings against the tenant.
Periodic/Automatic Renewal (no set end date)
A periodic tenancy (a weekly/monthly/yearly lease with automatic renewal) will continue until one of the parties terminates the lease. To terminate the lease, the landlord or tenant must give notice of their intention to terminate as specified by statute. A landlord can usually raise the rent, or change the terms of the lease in these types of agreements by providing proper notice as required by statute. At the end of the notice period the tenant must move out or the landlord can start eviction proceedings against the tenant.

An automatically renewing lease will renew after each rental period until one party chooses to end the lease by giving written notice.

A tenant might be given possession of the property before the lease start date where the tenant needs to perform leasehold improvements.

The gross lease typically means a tenant pays one lump sum for rent without any additional costs (such as operating costs).

A net leases typically require the tenant to pay substantially all of the operating costs associated with the leased property, such as certain operating costs or a portion of all the landlord’s operating costs for the building and common areas.

Operating costs are the routine day-to-day costs of doing business, such as utilities, maintenance, insurance, and cleaning.