Download free, fully‑editable Commercial Lease Agreement templates in Microsoft Word. Includes office, retail, warehouse, mixed‑use and build‑out lease contracts plus a step‑by‑step customization guide. You can explore all of our Agreement Templates to find one suitable for your requirements.
If a company takes a shop, office, warehouse or a mixed-use building, the Commercial Lease Agreement will govern the relationship of the landlord and the tenant. A commercial lease, in contrast to a residential one, usually involves bigger financial liabilities, longer contracts, provisions pertaining to tenant improvements, reimbursements of operating expenses, and complicated termination rights.
The landlord and the tenant minimize the likelihood of expensive disagreements, secure their investments, and make a transparent record that can be brought before the court, arbitration panel, or financing institution by consolidating in one enforceable contract all terms—from the amount of rent and the schedule of payments to the apportionment of maintenance duties, handling of expenses in common areas and the under which either party may exit—so forth. As Microsoft Word is practically installed on every computer, we have prepared a collection of free, completely-editable Commercial Lease Agreement templates for you to download, customize, and sign in a matter of moments, thus giving you legal protection for your business rental right away.
What Is a Commercial Lease Agreement?
A Commercial Lease Agreement is a legally binding document that is concluded between the landlord, the property owner, and the business tenant, the one who pays the rent, and it outlines the conditions of the tenant’s use and occupation of the site for business purposes. The lease agreement indicates the parties with their complete names and also includes the precise location of the rented property, the size, the layout, and clauses that limit the tenant to certain specific business activities like retail sales, professional services, or manufacturing, hence the use for which the premises can be rented.
At the heart of the contract is the rent structure which can be a combination of fixed base rent, scheduled rent escalations based on a consumer-price-index or a percentage of the tenant’s gross sales, along with the payments’ timing, payment methods accepted, and late-fee penalties if any. The lease not only mentions rent but also specifies the tenant’s share of operating cost, which is usually termed as CAM (common-area-maintenance) charges—comprising property taxes, insurance, utilities, cleaning, and maintenance for common areas like parking lots, elevators, or HVAC systems.
The rental agreement will additionally specify who is, in the end, responsible for repairing and maintaining the leased property. Usually, landlords keep ownership of the building’s outside and structural parts, while tenants take care of the inside, the lighting, the flooring and the fixtures they are given. In case the tenant wants to make any changes or improvements, the contract will contain a build-out clause that will set forth the method of getting an approval, permit issuing, the cost of construction and if the landlord will get ownership of the improvements when the lease ends.
The rental agreement states the duration of the lease, whether the period is a fixed number of years, a month-to-month arrangement, or includes options for renewal, and also specifies the time period for giving notice in case of termination or non-renewal. Security deposit regulations define the amount of the deposit to be kept, the terms under which it may be lost, and the procedure for the return of the deposit after the tenant has moved out.
Last but not least, the agreement includes terms that safeguard the interests of both parties in case of a failure, insolvency, or natural disasters, a clause concerning the right of the landlord to access the property for inspection, and a dispute resolution provision that generally necessitates mediation first, and then binding arbitration in a neutral place. By incorporating all these factors, the Commercial Lease Agreement gives a detailed and clear-cut route that removes doubts, spreads risks, and establishes a legal framework for the business renting process.
Here are previews and download links for these free templates in MS Word format.
Please click the download button for this Commercial Lease Agreement Template 01 below,
How to Use a Commercial Lease Agreement Sample in Word?
Open the downloaded Word file and read each paragraph to become familiar with the structure of the agreement. You will see bracketed placeholders such as “[Landlord Name]”, “[Tenant Name]”, “[Premises Address]”, “[Base Rent]”, “[Rent Escalation Formula]”, “[CAM Charge Allocation]” and “[Effective Date]”. Replace each placeholder with the precise details that reflect the negotiation between the parties.
If the lease contains a breakdown of the expenses, put down the exact percentages or dollar amounts that the tenant will be liable to pay, and make sure to include any relevant exhibits—like a CAM reconciliation worksheet or the landlord’s insurance policy document—if the agreement mentions them. In case the tenant planning on tenant-improvement construction, just add the approved plans as an exhibit and mention that exhibit in the construction clause.
Since commercial leases are closely related to local real-estate laws, tax law (particularly the way rent is treated compared to operating expense reimbursements), and, in some places, certain commercial-leasing disclosure requirements that require landlords and tenants to disclose certain things, it is highly recommended that every party have their own lawyer to advise them before they sign. A lawyer could confirm that the rent-increase method follows the rent-control rules, that the distribution of Common Area Maintenance (CAM) charges aligns with the landlord’s cost-recovery practices, and that no exclusive-use clauses are in conflict with antitrust laws.
After the document review process, the next steps will be to print out two identical copies, call for signatures from both the landlord and the tenant along with the required witnesses or a notary public if the jurisdiction requires agreements impacting real-property interests to be notarized. The original document should be kept in a secure filing cabinet, and a searchable PDF copy should be saved in a cloud folder for easy access during the whole lease period.
Please click the download button for this Commercial Lease Agreement Template 02 below,
Popular Types of Commercial Leases
When selecting a lease format you should first consider the nature of the space, the length of the commitment you require and the financial arrangement that best aligns with your cash‑flow expectations.
Fixed‑Base‑Rent Office Lease
The Fixed‑Base‑Rent Office Lease is the easiest lease structure for businesses that want to have predictable monthly costs and this is the main advantage of the agreement. It establishes a fixed base rent which can be increased annually by a predetermined percentage or according to the consumer-price-index and the tenant is most likely to repay a portion of the landlord’s operating expenses—property taxes, building insurance, common-area maintenance and utilities—through a CAM charge. As the rent remains unchanged, budgeting becomes easier, however, the tenant has to be ready to pay the extra operating-expense reimbursements whose amounts vary each year.
Percentage‑of‑Sales Retail Lease
A Percentage-of-Sales Retail Lease is very prevalent in shopping centers wherein the landlord’s revenue is directly linked with the tenant’s performance. The contract delineates a minimum rent that guarantees the landlord his lowest operating costs, together with a royalty-styled percentage of the tenant’s total sales, usually with a sales-threshold after which the percentage is applied. This situation harmonizes the landlord’s motivation with the retailer’s prosperity, nevertheless, the tenant has to maintain precise sales records and be ready for the landlord’s right to periodically inspect those records.
Triple‑Net (NNN) Lease
A Triple-Net (NNN) Lease holds the tenant responsible for almost all financial duties. The tenant, besides paying the base rent, pays property taxes, building insurance, and all common area maintenance expenses directly, effectively taking on the position of the building’s operator. The investors like this arrangement as it gives the landlord a stable and steady income while the tenant gets more control over the operating budget and might even receive tax deductions related to the expenses.
Modified Gross Lease
A Modified Gross Lease is situated in between a full-service lease and a triple net lease. The landlord shoulders some fixed operating expenses—usually property tax and insurance—while the tenant pays back the rest of the common-area costs. Such a deal is common in office buildings where tenants like to have a certain amount of cost certainty but at the same time want the landlord to take care of the bigger and more unpredictable items.
Ground‑Leasing Agreement
A Ground‑Leasing Agreement comes into play when the lessor keeps the land under his/her property and the lessee who wants to bring the place to life is given only the surface rights—this practice is very common with department stores, hotels, or major retail centers, etc. The lease usually provides for a longer duration—usually, 20 to 30 years—which gives the lessee their right to recover slowly the expenses of building the structure, and it may also have a stipulation that requires the lessee to return the land to the state it was in before the lease at the end of the term.
Build‑Out or Tenant‑Improvement (TI) Lease
A Build-Out or Tenant-Improvements (TI) Lease gives the landlord a role in building or financing the interior improvements needed for the tenant’s specific use. The contract specifies the amount of the TI allowance, the time frame for completion, the quality of the work, and the fate of the improvements when the lease ends—whether they are kept as the landlord’s property, the tenant’s vested interest, or are taken out by the tenant at its own cost.
Short‑Term Pop‑Up Shop Lease
A Short-Term Pop-Up Shop Lease is designed for retail businesses that want to set up a temporary store for a certain period, like a holiday boutique or a new product launch. The agreement is generally for a month-to-month period, incorporates a lower base rent, may have a renewal option that the tenant can take up within a short notice, and often allows the landlord to ask for a higher security deposit because the term is short and the landlord wants to reduce the risk of any damage to the property.
Mixed‑Use Development Lease
A Mixed-Use Development Lease is suitable for sites that intertwine retail, office, and residential functionalities. Different rent structures should be set out in the lease for each use—retail with percentage-of-sales, office with fixed rent and possibly residential-style rent for any residence—and at the same time, shared-area expenses divided according to square footage. The contract often includes a use-restriction clause that limits the office tenant from turning the retail area into a non-retail one, thus maintaining the character of the entire development.
Co‑Working Space Membership Agreement
A Co‑Working Space Membership Agreement is a contemporary form of contract in which the tenant gets a flexible desk, a private office, or meeting room access on a monthly basis. The agreement specifies membership level, services that come with it (internet, printing, reception), cost sharing for communal areas, and the period of notice that is needed for cancellation. Due to the fact that the tenant might not have full rights over a certain area, the contract specifies the landlord’s privilege to give away desks to other members whenever necessary.
Industrial Warehouse Lease
A typical Industrial Warehouse Lease consists of high ceilings, access to loading docks, and heavy equipment usage. The lease usually states that the tenant must maintain the interior floor, dock doors, and any special ventilation systems, whereas the landlord covers the roof, structural walls, and external utilities. Industrial tenants are often allowed to keep dangerous materials, hence the contract usually has an environmental-compliance clause which stipulates that the tenant gets the permits required and indemnifies the landlord in case of any pollution.
Medical Office Lease
A Medical Office Lease has to deal with regulatory demands in particular, the tenant’s right to install medical equipment as long as it does not impact the building’s structures, the landlord’s permission and the requirement for specialized HVAC systems, and compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The lease agreement usually contains a provision requiring the tenant to acquire all licenses and permits and indicating that the landlord will not unreasonably withhold consent for modifications necessary for the medical practice.
By matching the lease type to the nature of the property, the length of the tenancy and the financial structure that best fits your business plan, you can select the template that most closely reflects your needs and then customize it with the specific details of your transaction.
