Revisiting Boilerplate or 'Miscellaneous' Lease Provisions

The May 2005 issue of Commercial Leasing Law & Strategy published an article presenting an overview of certain boilerplate provisions often found in the “Miscellaneous” section at the end of a commercial lease. (“Don't Forget the Boilerplate: Not All Standard Miscellaneous Provi-sions Are Standard,” co-authored by Christopher A. Jones and Scott A. Weinberg.) The authors noted that after spending significant time drafting and redrafting the more “substantive” provisions of a lease, several seemingly less important provisions are frequently unexamined. The authors also noted, however, that the boilerplate provisions in leases are often not uniform, but instead, can vary dramatically, depending on whether the lease is drafted on behalf of a landlord or a tenant, and therefore, such provisions must also be carefully reviewed to ensure that they capture each party's understanding of the lease terms.

This article identifies certain boilerplate provisions most often found in leases drafted by a landlord in order to preserve the landlord's control of its project and the activity being conducted in and around its building. These provisions are often drafted for the sole benefit of the landlord. While a landlord is unlikely simply to delete any of these provisions, this article suggests alternative language and modifications to such provisions to be requested when representing a tenant.