Many people know that there can be both major and minor costs to doing business. On the “minor” side, you have pens, paper, various office supplies, and handling the most mundane and routine expenses you face on a day-to-day basis. On the “major” side, you have labor costs, taxes, and without a doubt, your commercial lease. A commercial lease is an agreement between two parties, similar to a private real estate lease, in which one party agrees to use the space for doing business.

A commercial lease will affect a piece of property that is in a business or commercial “zone,” according to local regulations and zoning maps, and will be under the regulations of both the state and local ordinances for doing business. Subsequently, a commercial lease can often be as complicated if not more complicated than a simple apartment lease. Let’s take a closer look into commercial leases and see what we can find out.

One of the first things to understand about a commercial lease is that, in many ways, it’s similar to other leases. If you were to lease an apartment, for example, you would similarly fill out information regarding the dates of the lease, the expected amount of rent paid each month, and the terms of the lease. That is essentially what goes into every lease form, whether you’re talking about a commercial lease, a car lease, or an apartment lease. So what really makes a commercial lease all that different from the other types of leases you come across?

Well, the amount of money you can expect to dole out every month, for starters. But there are a few other tweaks and differences you’ll want to be aware of. For example, a commercial lease will let you know when it’s your responsibility to make sure that the space you inhabit is up to code in terms of local ordinances and state regulations for commercial zoning. This isn’t always a difficult thing to handle - in fact, the person you’re renting the office space from might be able to handle it for you - but it’s something you’ll want to be aware of.

A commercial lease might also require some things of your business - for example, they want your business to carry out the type of business you say you’re going to carry out, and nothing more. Some commercial properties are not able to offer the kind of commercial space for various services because they’re not up to code for these services. You wouldn’t open a bakery in an office building, for example, but a retail center that would be able to support the kind of business you plan on running.

Be sure to read through your commercial lease or simply check out a sample commercial lease form to get an idea of what you can expect out of these documents - we promise it isn’t as scary as it sounds.