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Finding a desirable tenant often is a challenge, especially in an economic downturn. To make sure you don't replace one struggling tenant with another, you may be tempted to tighten your tenant screening criteria, or screen more aggressively than you have in the past.

As an owner in the current recession, you probably thought that a tenant's bankruptcy due to the economic downturn would be the most difficult issue you would have to deal with. However, failing banks, unlike your other tenants, are not subject to the bankruptcy process under the Bankruptcy Code. Rather, they are subject to the FDIC receivership process—and, as the owner, so are you.

Struggling retail tenants may be able to blame their business's failure on things like poor sales, inconvenient locations, or unexpectedly high overhead. But occasionally, the owner is blamed for the failure, such as in a recent Maryland case.

Commercial owners have much to learn from the case law issued by the U.S.'s federal and state courts this year. The biggest challenge for owners seems to be understanding their responsibilities and rights under their leases and, equally important, negotiating unambiguous provisions that clearly define both.

As the recession wears on and continues to affect commercial real estate, industry professionals' instinct is to rein in spending, cut back to only essentials, and try to maximize profits. So it is surprising that real estate experts are recommending that commercial property owners invest in building upgrades to add value for current and prospective tenants, and offer lease incentives, such as two months rent-free, to fill empty space. What seems like splurging actually is a very good business decision that you should think about making, too.

“On-demand” office companies provide both space and services for small companies and individuals seeking an office and the benefits of being in a traditional business environment, without the cost. Because a growing segment of the market is downsizing and streamlining the services they use, on-demand offices, which essentially are a “pay-as-you-go supportive infrastructure,” are seeing a boom, says Kim Seipel, marketing manager for Pacific Business Centers (PBC), a provider of on-demand offices.

Many commercial property owners are continually looking for the next big opportunity to expand their real estate investments, while minimizing costs and management responsibilities. A trend in real estate ownership over the past decade—1031 triple net (NNN) tenants in common exchanges—promises to accomplish this. However, this type of property acquisition may have serious pitfalls in today's economy—namely, the bankruptcy of the property management company, or sponsor. A well-drafted tenant-in-common agreement can prepare for that risk.

If you haven't negotiated a garage lease recently, you may find that there are numerous matters that you must pay particular attention to during negotiations. Unlike most commercial leases, garage leases contain an array of unique issues that are not commonly encountered in a typical leasing transaction, says New Jersey real estate attorney Mark Morfopoulos. “It would be a big mistake to assume a garage lease is ‘just a lease,’” he warns.

To avoid overlooking a key issue, Morfopoulos suggests negotiating the following 13 provisions in your garage lease.