When negotiating a lease on behalf of a commercial tenant, an attorney should be mindful of both the legal and business aspects of the transaction. While all tenants seek quiet enjoyment, it is important to recognize that perhaps equally central are vehicular visibility and foot traffic. After all, without customers, tenants cannot afford to pay rent.

Landlords should also not overlook the fact that an individual tenant's success is critical to the success of a shopping center. One of the most important factors that can affect a tenant's visibility and the success of a shopping center is a tenant's signs. Therefore, it is in the best interest of both landlord and tenant attorneys to craft language that gives the tenant the right to install the signage it deems best suited for the tenant's branding and financial success, while balancing the needs of the public and the shopping center. This article will provide guidance to attorneys as to the suggested signage provisions to be included when negotiating a commercial lease in New York, and will discuss the importance of ensuring that tenant's rights and landlord obligations pertaining to signage are expressly addressed in the lease.

The primary way of attracting customers to a retail store is by publicizing the location through the use of storefront signs, pylons or monument signs. A restriction on the size of the letters, the permitted colors, the height of a pylon or the manner of illumination can have a damaging effect on the number of potential customers and gross sales. Prior to signing a lease, tenants should conduct due diligence in order to determine any applicable government regulations or ordinances affecting their rights to install signs and should verify whether there are any restrictions on the size of letters permitted, the height of pylon signs, the illumination of storefront signs or any other limitations affecting their signs. In the event that such restrictions exist, it is important to determine whether they are imposed by the landlord or by law. Tenants should also inquire whether the landlord has created specific sign criteria for the shopping center while negotiating the letter of intent. For example, if a landlord has a rule or regulation requiring that all tenants have uniform lettering or a uniform color scheme, this can have a detrimental effect on a national tenant with its own brand and logo. Such a tenant should seek to carve out an exception at the outset allowing it to have similar signage to that in place at the tenant's other locations in the same region.