Commercial Leasing in NYC: Who Is in the Deal and What You Sign

Commercial leasing in New York is a negotiation between two represented sides that ends in one long contract. For a company signing its first office lease, five people matter: the landlord, the landlord's leasing agent, your own broker, and an attorney on each side. Four documents get produced in order: your brief, the landlord's proposal, a letter of intent and the lease. A private floor can be leased for as little as 12 months, though 24 and 36 are more common. Allow six to eight weeks from the first tour if the floor is already built, and four to six months if it needs construction.

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Send me floors for 15 people

Updated 2026-10-03 · Nomad Group

The five people in a first office lease

Office leasing puts five people around one deal, and each of them sits on one side of it.

The landlord owns the building and decides which deal to accept.
The landlord's leasing agent, often called the listing broker, is hired by the owner to fill the building on the owner's terms.
Your broker is hired by your company. On your search, we work for you: we compare buildings, run the tours and carry the business terms.
The landlord's attorney usually writes the first draft of the lease, on the owner's form.
Your attorney marks up that draft.

In most transactions the landlord pays the broker fee, so a tenant who brings its own broker usually pays nothing extra for the help. Nomad also offers agency leasing and owner representation, so ask any firm, ours included, whether it leases a building on your list for its owner. What a tenant broker does covers the roles in full.

What a first-time tenant signs, in order

Four documents carry a deal from an idea to keys.

The brief: one page from you stating headcount, move-in date, budget and neighborhoods. Nobody signs it, and every later conversation starts from it.
The landlord's proposal: the owner's written answer for one specific floor, with rent, term and concessions.
The letter of intent: a few pages that fix the economics before any attorney drafts. Most of it does not bind either side, and your attorney should confirm which paragraphs do.
The lease: the binding contract, signed last.

The cheapest place to change a number is the third document. How a letter of intent works explains what belongs in it.

How long a first commercial lease commits you

Longer than an apartment lease, with less room to leave early. Twelve months is possible on a private floor, but terms of 24 and 36 months are more common, and space that needs construction usually comes with a longer one, because the owner wants time to recover what it spends on the floor. Shorter terms carry higher rent per square foot.

For a first lease, the useful question is how sure you are of your headcount two years out. If the honest reply is not very, a shorter term on a furnished floor costs more per foot and less in regret.

How long office leasing takes from the first tour

A team that decides quickly can be working from a pre-built floor six to eight weeks after it first tours. Where the space needs a custom buildout, plan on four to six months in all, because design, permits and construction follow the signature.

The floors below are sized for about 15 people, a common first lease.

What a first-time tenant should have ready before the first call

Headcount today, and the number you expect in 12 to 18 months.
The date you need to be in, and what happens if you miss it.
A monthly budget, agreed with whoever approves the spending.
Two or three neighborhoods, chosen by where the team lives.
Something that shows the company can carry the lease, since the deposit a landlord asks for is larger for a young company.
The name of the person who can say yes.

Floors that fit a team of 15

Live from our listings · 6 of the 8, smallest first

A team of 15 plans on about 2,625 square feet at 175 a person. 8 floors on our book sit in the range that fits, 2,625 to 4,725 square feet, asking $44 to $115 per square foot per year.

Floors: 8
Sizes: 2,937-4,109 sq ft
Asking rent: $44-$115 / sq ft

Every available floor, filterable by size →

The full guide

This page is the short answer. The long one, with the numbers worked through, is here:

Is a 12 month commercial lease realistic for a first office?

Yes, on some private floors, most often furnished or pre-built ones. Expect to pay more per square foot than a tenant signing for two or three years, and expect fewer concessions. Building a headquarters on a short lease covers when the trade is worth making.

When does our attorney join the leasing process?

Once the letter of intent is agreed and the landlord's attorney sends the first lease draft. Some tenants ask counsel to read the letter of intent too, which is sensible where it contains paragraphs written to bind, such as confidentiality.

Do we pay our own broker on a commercial lease?

Usually not directly. In most transactions the landlord pays the broker fee, though each deal's lease and commission terms decide it. Before the first tour, ask your broker whether any fee could fall to you, and whether it wants an agreement of its own signed, a fifth document ahead of the four above.

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.

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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
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