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If you require a tenant to have a guaranty in order for you to sign the lease with it, you may feel that you're protected in the event that the tenant stops paying rent. After all, the whole point of a guaranty is to be able to collect rent from the party who guaranteed the tenant's lease if the tenant fails to live up to its obligations. But if a guaranty hasn't been executed properly, you'll be left empty handed anyway when the tenant defaults.

If you've signed a lease with a new tenant that wants to get access to its space in your shopping center or office building before the lease terms starts, it could seem harmless enough. But allowing a tenant  to do work in the space or install furniture and fixtures could create more problems than you anticipate, including the inherent conflict that results if both you and the tenant each attempts to complete renovation work at the same time and in the same place.

If your lease with a tenant requires it to pay fees for professionals or consultants you must use for the space, it'll have to comply or risk breaching the lease. But that doesn't mean you can hire whatever experts you want at the tenant's expense.

If shopping centers near yours have experienced vandalism or burglaries that took place after hours, you might be afraid that your center will be affected next. Installing more lighting in the parking lot is one of the best measures you can take. But there are other ways to deter after-hours crimes. To reduce the risk of an after-hours crime occurring at your building or center, add the following two safeguards to an “access outside of ordinary business hours” clause in your lease.

A letter of intent (LOI), also known as a “term sheet,” sets the stage for a lease. Signed by both the owner and tenant, the LOI indicates that both parties intend to go through with a lease, and includes terms that are fundamentally important to the tenant's operation, such as rent and tenant improvements. And the LOI can affect other parties, such as brokers, who can cause trouble if their services aren’t addressed accurately in the LOI.

While the economy has steadily improved in many areas, it’s still important to protect yourself from the perils of a bankrupt tenant. When negotiating with a prospective tenant—especially one that’s small or not financially strong—keep in mind that if it experiences financial problems the security deposit could wind up being your only access to funds that can compensate you if the tenant stops paying rent or otherwise breaches the lease.

Despite the uptick in the economy in the last few years, some retail tenants still may be struggling. It's important to deal sooner rather than later with a tenant who has been habitually late paying rent. You may have heard that if you continue to accept late rent each month, the tenant could argue that the lease has been modified by your actions and it’s entitled to pay late.

A major or important tenant may insist on getting special name and signage privileges on your building. You should carefully consider such a request. It may have positive or negative effects. If the tenant is a prestigious company, naming the building after the tenant may make your building more inviting to prospective tenants; if the tenant has been embroiled in scandals or is suffering financially, having its name on your building may discourage prospective tenants.

Letting a business use a portion of your outdoor parking lot can be an innovative way to earn additional revenue and boost traffic at your center. While business-related activities, such as book sales, car sales, and boat sales seem to be a relatively quick and easy way to bring in more cash and positive publicity for you and your tenants, they can get out of hand and jeopardize the center if you don’t control them in a way that’s conducive to your regular operation—the one that tenants have carefully negotiated for.

Selling New York City’s One World Trade Center is one part of a plan to reform the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) after the George Washington Bridge Scandal brought negative attention to the agency. Governors Andrew Cuomo and Chris Christie are aiming to refocus on PANYNJ’s core mission of transportation projects. Real estate sales would be at the forefront of a proposed overhaul.