Commercial Real Estate Attorney in Washington, DC

     Commercial real estate in the District of Columbia follows its own rules. The city has a zoning code rewritten in 2016, historic preservation review across large parts of the map, and transfer and recordation taxes that can reach deals structured as entity sales. A lease or purchase contract that works in Maryland or Virginia can leave you exposed here.
Mistry Law represents landlords, tenants, buyers, sellers, investors and lenders in commercial real estate matters across all eight wards of Washington, DC. We help you read the documents, price the risks and close, and if a deal goes wrong, we represent you in the dispute.
We handle:


• Commercial lease negotiation, including triple net (NNN) leases, for landlords and tenants
• Property acquisitions and sales
• Commercial financing and loan documents
• Zoning, land use and permitting
• Real estate disputes and litigation

Commercial lease negotiation and triple net leases in DC

     A commercial lease is a negotiated contract, and in DC there is no rent control or standard form to fall back on for commercial space. What the lease says is what you get. We represent both landlords and tenants on office, retail, restaurant, medical and mixed-use space.

     Triple net (NNN) leases. Many DC retail, office and industrial leases are triple net: the tenant pays base rent plus its share of the building’s property taxes, insurance and operating costs. The base rent figure alone does not show what the space really costs. We review and negotiate:

  • How the tenant’s pro rata share is calculated, and whether it is based on rentable or occupied space
  • What counts as an operating expense, and what is excluded, such as capital repairs, landlord overhead and management fees
  • Caps on increases in controllable expenses, and limits on management fees
  • Property tax pass-throughs, including what happens when the building is sold or reassessed
  • Monthly estimates, year-end reconciliations and the tenant’s right to audit
  • Insurance requirements, and who bears casualty and condemnation risk
  • Roof and structural responsibility, which some NNN leases quietly shift to the tenant

 

     We also compare triple net offers with modified gross and full-service offers, so you can weigh total occupancy cost, not only base rent.

     Negotiating your commercial lease. Most commercial lease terms are negotiable, and your leverage is greatest before the letter of intent is signed. We help you set priorities, mark up the landlord’s form, push back on one-sided clauses and get the agreed terms into the lease in plain language.

 

For tenants, we negotiate and review:

  • Letters of intent, base rent, escalations and renewal and expansion options
  • Operating expense and common area maintenance (CAM) charges, including caps and audit rights
  • Tenant improvement allowances and who pays for build-out
  • Permitted use clauses, tied to the building’s zoning and certificate of occupancy
  • Personal guaranties, and ways to limit them
  • Assignment, subletting and early termination rights

For landlords, we draft and negotiate:

  • Lease forms that protect your income and your building
  • Default, holdover and remedy provisions
  • Subordination, non-disturbance and attornment agreements (SNDAs) your lender will accept
  • Estoppel certificates and lease amendments needed for a sale or refinance

 

Before you sign, we check that the space can legally be used the way you plan. A restaurant, clinic or childcare use that the zoning or the building’s certificate of occupancy does not allow is a costly surprise to find after the lease is signed.