Q: How much does a lawyer charge to look at a lease? I am trying to figure out what is important. I was hoping you might be able to give me some insight.
A: Lawyers’ fees to review a lease generally depend on the amount of time it takes to do the job. That, in turn, depends on a number of factors, including:
- The billable rate of the attorney
- The length of the lease (or sublease) . . . which is often a reflection of the size (and quality) of the space, the amount of the base monthly rent and the sophistication/experience of the landlord
- The kinds of provisions that may need to be added to the lease to protect you
- The extent to which you want the lawyer to be involved in any negotiations with the landlord, which reflects the extent to which you have been provided with a “take it or leave it” offer from the landlord.
Some attorneys may be able to do the work for a fixed fee, so be sure to ask them if they’re able to perform this kind of service on a fixed-fee rate. If not, you can certainly ask for an estimate based on the scope of the lease and their billable rate.
This entry was posted on Friday, August 28th, 2009 at 9:49 am and is filed under Basic Training, Lawyer Low-Down. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.Leave a Reply
