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The age of the shopping mall is on the decline, and now that retailers are playing hardball with their lease agreements you’re probably wondering how those lease agreements affect your building permit and if you even need a building permit expeditor. The short answer is: yes, you need a building permit expeditor, especially with tight lease agreements. In this article I will give you three ways lease agreements affect your building permit.

1. Tight lease agreements call for efficient phase 1 construction. If a retailer is in negotiation a new lease, for lease renew #2, the quicker a mall or tenant can open the doors the sweeter the deal becomes for everyone involved. Let’s pretend there’s a new women’s apparel concept leasing space with a tightly negotiated lease the way to ease tension for both the retailer and the landlord is to ensure building permits are taken care of efficiently and expertly. This decreases your time to market and increases your bottom line. Ensure your lease has provisions for a building permit expeditor.

2. Lease renewals need to include fixture/finish upgrades. For being a loyal and profitable tenant many landlords look to sweeten their leases, additionally, retailers want to have the incentive to continue leasing a space. For quick fixture and finish upgrades, most cities do not require permits. However, if racking is over a certain height or if the material isn’t approved by the city then a plancheck will be required. Good news is a building permit expeditor can work their contacts in the city to ensure this is done over-the-counter and quickly.

3. Turn your lease into a phase 1 solution. Retail malls and outlets seem to be on the decline however, this should be seen as just evolution and not a retail decline (see our article 3 Reasons the Retail Decline is a Myth). A good way to approach leases is to include clauses for tenant improvements, upgrades, and even signage permits, for bonus points include who will be your building permit expeditor. This creates a service level agreement, and therefore security, in the event any changes to the space occur after the lease is signed.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I will close on this final note: everything comes back to the permit. Architect, engineer, designer, contractor, and everyone else will tell you the same thing: every project comes back to the permit. Call me and my team at Permit Advisors for consultation or to use us as your exclusive building permit expeditor at (310) 275-7774.

About Permit Advisors: Permit Advisors Inc. is a complete permit, entitlement consulting, and expediting firm based out of Beverly Hills, Ca. We go beyond just submitting plans, as you may have experienced with previous expediters. We have established strong relationships with officials of many municipalities and have numerous time and cost-saving strategies that we implement to efficiently complete projects. We aim to secure all permits as quickly as possible! We keep track of all the different aspects of the permitting process and make sure that the project is being given full attention by everyone on the team. We responsibly update clients and ensure that lines of communication are open between the Jurisdiction, the consultants and the client at all times. Contact us today for a consultation www.permitadvisors.com.