Hold New Tenant Financially Responsible for Construction Delays It Causes

Delays are apt to occur any time you perform pre-move-in construction work for a new tenant. Such delays may result in your not being able to complete the work by the date the tenant is required to begin paying rent under the lease. To protect tenants in the event of such a contingency, leases typically say that the duty to pay rent doesn’t kick in unless and until the work is “substantially complete.” That seems to be a fair rule, as long as it was your own staff or contractors that caused the delay.