Exercising a Lease Renewal Option in NYC: The Deadline and a Missed Date
A renewal option is exercised by written notice, delivered inside the window the lease sets and in exactly the manner its notice clause prescribes. Miss the deadline and in most cases the option lapses: the landlord no longer has to renew on the option's terms, and you negotiate as a tenant with an expiry date and no fallback. Before sending notice, decide whether the option's rent is the better deal or whether the renewal should be negotiated as a new one. Start 12 to 18 months before expiry, so that moving remains possible and the landlord knows it.
Rather have a broker answer it for your team?Tell us team size and timing. A broker reaches out within the hour during business hours.
Send me floors to compareUpdated 2026-10-03 · Nomad Group
How to exercise the option, step by step
- Find the window. It is usually written as not before one date and not after another, and it often closes months before the lease ends.
- Read the notice clause alongside the option clause: the address, the delivery method and who must receive copies.
- Confirm the conditions. Most options require that you are not in default and still occupy the space.
- Send the notice exactly as prescribed, keep proof that it arrived, and have the landlord confirm receipt in writing.
Courts generally hold tenants to these dates. Have your attorney prepare or review the notice. A day late, the wrong address or the wrong method can each lose the right.
If the renewal option deadline has passed
In most cases the option is gone, and with it the landlord's duty to renew on those terms. A renewal can still be negotiated, but from the position the option was meant to prevent: expiry approaching and nothing agreed to fall back on. With no option, the landlord can also simply decline to renew.
Two things help. Ask your attorney whether anything in the lease preserves the right. Then rebuild the leverage the option would have given you, which means a real alternative: floors toured, one proposal in hand, and enough time left to move.
Exercise the option, or negotiate the renewal as a new deal
Exercise when the option's rent is below what the market would charge. A fixed renewal rent agreed years ago, in a market that has since risen, is worth keeping. So is certainty when the team cannot afford disruption.
Renegotiate when the option's rent would be at or above the market, or when you need something the option does not provide: a different size, a refresh of the space, free rent or a reset of escalations. A landlord that would otherwise face vacancy, a buildout for the next tenant, a commission and free rent has reasons to offer a renewing tenant concessions too. The two often run together. Hold the option as your fallback, negotiate for better, and send the notice before the window closes if the talks fall short. Renew or relocate sets out the comparison.
When to start, and what holdover costs if the term runs out
A year to eighteen months ahead of expiry. That is enough for a search, a negotiation and, if the answer is to move, a custom buildout, which typically runs 10 to 16 weeks. With six months left, everyone at the table knows you cannot leave, and the pricing reflects it.
The backstop is worse. A tenant that stays past expiry with no signed renewal is in holdover. The usual charge in a New York office lease is 150 to 200 percent of the final rent, and some leases add liability for the landlord's losses. Holdover explains the clause.
The alternatives a renewing tenant compares against
A renewal is priced against what else you could do. The block below draws on every floor we list: the range of asking rents, the citywide median and a sample of floors, so the first market check takes minutes. If the option's rent sits well above comparable floors, that is the case for renegotiating. If it sits below, that is the case for sending the notice. Every available floor has the full list with filters.
What is on our book right now
Live from our listings · 6 of the 49, cheapest firstNomad lists 49 floors across 11 Manhattan submarkets right now, from 2,500 to 27,344 square feet. 46 publish an asking rent: $43 to $200 per square foot per year, with a median of $75.
- Floors
- 49
- Sizes
- 2,500-27,344 sq ft
- Asking rent
- $43-$200 / sq ft
- Median
- $75 / sq ft
- 276 Fifth Avenue, 9th Floor 5,500 sq ft $52/sq ft Flatiron about 31 people
- 153 West 27th Street, Partial 11th Floor 2,937 sq ft $60/sq ft Chelsea about 17 people
- 60 East 42nd Street, Partial 13th Floor 5,772 sq ft $72/sq ft Grand Central about 33 people
- 110 Greene Street, Partial 5th Floor 3,750 sq ft $95/sq ft SoHo about 21 people
- 60 Charlton Street, Partial 8th Floor 5,003 sq ft $120/sq ft SoHo about 29 people
- 45 West 45th Street, Entire 10th Floor 8,230 sq ft rent on request Midtown about 47 people
The full guide
This page is the short answer. The long one, with the numbers worked through, is here:
Related topics
- Right of First Refusal in an Office Lease, Compared With a Right of First Offer
- Option to Renew in an Office Lease: What the Clause Should Say Before You Sign
- Negotiating an Office Lease Renewal in NYC: Five Tips for a Startup's First Renewal
- Triple Net Lease Explained for a Manhattan Office Tenant
Can I exercise a renewal option by email?
Only if the lease's notice clause allows it. Most specify a delivery method and an address, and a notice that does not follow them may not count. Send it the prescribed way, and treat any email as a courtesy copy.
Does exercising the option stop me from negotiating?
Once you exercise, you have accepted the option's terms, so negotiate first. The window gives those talks a deadline. If the rent is set at fair market value, begin gathering market evidence early. It lets you challenge the landlord's figure and, if that figure comes in high, use the dispute process in the lease.
Who should own the renewal date inside the company?
One named person, from the week the lease is signed. Put both ends of the notice window on the calendar with reminders well ahead of the opening date, and add the 18-month mark as the day the market check begins.
Talk to a broker
Want this answered for your team?
Tell us three things: team size, timing, budget. A first shortlist can be ready within 24 hours, with the asking rent on every floor that publishes one.
- Within the houra broker reaches out during business hours, no automated triage
- On your sidewe work for you on your search, and the landlord usually pays our fee
- Open pricingasking rent published for 46 of 49 floors, size and address for all
- 300+ officesdelivered in New York, 2M+ sq ft leased
Or call 646-688-3158
