A commercial lease is often the largest contract a small business ever signs, and the first draft is almost never written in your favor. Akiva Shapiro represents tenants and landlords in commercial leasing matters across Long Island from his office in Old Bethpage, Nassau County. Because he works both sides, he knows where each side hides its advantages. And after roughly thirty years in business operations before law, he reads a lease the way an owner does: costs, risks, and obligations that will follow your business for years.
Tenants and Landlords, Both Sides of the Table
For tenants, Akiva Shapiro reviews leases before signing, negotiates terms, limits personal guaranty exposure, and handles renewals, disputes, and defaults. For landlords, he drafts and tightens leases, responds to tenant defaults, and enforces lease terms.
One thing every commercial tenant in New York should understand: the legal protections that shield residential tenants mostly do not apply to you. Commercial rents are not regulated, and courts largely hold business parties to whatever they signed. The lease is the whole deal. What it says is what you get.
That is why review and negotiation matter so much up front, and why enforcement turns on the precise words on the page.
What Is Actually Negotiable (More Than You Think)
Landlords present form leases as fixed. They rarely are. The usual negotiated terms:
- Rent escalations. The built-in annual increases. Small percentage differences compound into real money over the life of a long lease.
- CAM and additional rent. Common area maintenance: your share of the property's taxes, insurance, and upkeep, billed on top of base rent. Definitions and audit rights decide what you actually pay.
- Repair obligations. Who owns the roof, the structure, and the HVAC system when they fail. A vague clause here can turn into an enormous surprise bill.
- Assignment and subletting. Your right to hand the lease to a buyer of your business or share the space, and how easily the landlord can refuse.
- Default and cure. What counts as breaking the lease and how long you get to fix a problem before consequences begin.
Everything above is also where landlords quietly win. Knowing the other side's playbook is half the negotiation.
Personal Guaranties and New York's Good Guy Guaranty
Most Long Island landlords ask the owner of a small business to personally guarantee the lease. A full guaranty means that if the business fails, the landlord can pursue your personal assets for the rent remaining on the entire term.
New York leasing practice developed a middle path: the good guy guaranty. In its usual form, your personal liability ends if the business leaves the space in the condition the lease requires, current on rent through the surrender date, with proper notice. The landlord gets the space back from a good guy and absorbs the risk of re-letting it.
The protection lives in the drafting. Notice requirements, surrender conditions, and what stays guaranteed after you leave vary by lease, and a badly drafted clause can behave like a full guaranty exactly when it counts.
Lease Review Before You Sign
The least expensive legal work in commercial leasing happens before signatures. Akiva Shapiro reads the entire lease, including the exhibits and riders where landlords put the sharpest terms, and delivers a plain-English picture of what you are agreeing to: the true cost of the space, the risks that are negotiable, and the ones you should not accept.
Business owners negotiating new space can also engage him specifically to push the deal terms themselves. That service has its own page: lease negotiation.
Landlords use the same review in reverse: closing the gaps tenants' lawyers exploit, with drafting that holds up when a tenancy goes wrong.
Renewals, Defaults, and Lease Disputes
Leasing work does not end at signing. Renewal options usually require strict written notice at the right time, and missing the window can mean losing the space or renegotiating with no leverage.
Mid-lease disputes follow familiar patterns: fights over CAM reconciliations, arguments over repairs, landlords withholding consent to a sublease or assignment, and default notices. New York gives commercial tenants an unusual tool when a landlord claims default: a court order, known as a Yellowstone injunction, that pauses the cure clock while the dispute is decided, so the lease is not lost before the fight is heard.
For landlords, he enforces lease terms and guaranties against defaulting tenants. When any leasing dispute escalates to court, see commercial litigation.
Key Takeaways
- Commercial leases in New York are enforced as written; there is no residential-style safety net.
- Escalations, CAM, repairs, guaranties, and cure periods are usually negotiable, even on a form lease.
- A well-drafted good guy guaranty can end personal liability when the business surrenders the space properly.
- Renewal options run on strict notice; missing the window can forfeit the space.
- A default notice starts a short clock, and New York courts can pause it while a genuine dispute is decided.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good guy guaranty?
It is a limited personal guaranty common in New York commercial leases. Instead of guaranteeing the entire lease term, the business owner is personally responsible only until the tenant surrenders the space, typically with proper notice, in the required condition, and current on rent. Leave as a good guy and personal liability generally ends. The exact conditions vary by lease, and the drafting determines whether the protection is real.
What is additional rent or CAM?
Base rent is only part of what a commercial tenant pays. Additional rent covers your share of the property's operating costs, such as real estate taxes, insurance, and common area maintenance, called CAM. How the lease defines those costs, what it excludes, and whether you can audit the landlord's numbers all determine your true occupancy cost, which can run well above the advertised rent.
Do commercial tenants have the same rights as residential tenants in New York?
No. Most of New York's tenant protections apply to residential housing, not commercial space. Commercial rents are unregulated, and courts generally enforce commercial leases as written between business parties. There is no safety net of implied rights to fall back on. Practically, your lease is your protection, which is why reviewing and negotiating it before signing carries so much weight.
Can I get out of a commercial lease early?
It depends almost entirely on the document. Exit routes include assignment or subletting if the lease permits them, a negotiated buyout with the landlord, an early termination option if one was bargained for, or a good guy guaranty structure that limits personal exposure when the business must walk away. The time to build these exits is before signing, though mid-term options are often worth exploring.
What should I do if I receive a default notice from my landlord?
Act immediately. Default notices run on short timelines, and doing nothing can cost you the lease, the space, and your business location. Some defaults can be cured within the notice period. When the claimed default is disputed or cannot be fixed quickly, New York courts can pause the cure deadline through a Yellowstone injunction while the fight is resolved. Speed determines which options remain open.
This page is attorney advertising and provides general information about New York law; it is not legal advice for your specific situation and does not create an attorney-client relationship. For advice about your circumstances, speak with a licensed New York attorney.