How to Negotiate a Commercial Lease: The Terms That Move, and the Order to Push Them

To negotiate a commercial lease in New York, stop arguing about the asking rent and work on the package around it. The face rent moves least, because the building is valued on it. What moves, roughly in order of money, is free rent, the improvement allowance, the escalation rate and base year, the security deposit and guarantee, and the options to renew, expand or sublet. Settle all of them in the letter of intent, while you still hold a second floor you would take. The asking rents shown on this page are where that conversation opens. They are not where it closes.

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 with rents

Updated 2026-10-03 · Nomad Group

Why a first-time tenant should leave the face rent alone

A landlord's lender and appraiser both read the rent printed in the lease. Cutting it lowers what the whole building is worth on paper, so an owner gives ground almost anywhere else first.

The number to negotiate is effective rent: what the floor costs across the full term once free months and landlord money are subtracted. Two offers at the same asking rent can sit far apart on that measure.

Five levers, ranked by the money they move

Free rent. Months with no base rent, normally at the start. One month for each year of term is a common Manhattan shape, and more is reasonable when the space needs work.
The improvement allowance. Landlord money toward the buildout. Arrive with a contractor's estimate, and agree what happens to any balance you do not spend.
Escalations and the base year. A fixed increase of 2.5 to 3 percent a year compounds, so half a point matters. The base year for tax and operating increases should be the year you sign.
Security and the guarantee. The size of the deposit, a letter of credit in place of cash, and a burn-down after years of on-time payment. On a good guy guarantee, shorten the notice period.
Options. A renewal right with the rent method agreed, a first look at neighboring space, and sublet consent that cannot be unreasonably withheld. Cheap for an owner on signing day, hard to win afterward.

Free rent and lease options carry the fine print on the first and last of these.

The order of play: published rents, competing proposals, then the letter of intent

Start from asking rents you can see. The block on this page lists floors with the rent each one asks, so you know the market's opening position before anyone quotes you a figure. Read every rent there as a first offer.

Next, request proposals on at least two floors you would genuinely take, and keep both going. An owner who knows you can sign elsewhere prices the deal differently.

Then do your fighting in the letter of intent. It runs a few pages and is mostly non-binding, so a term changes there in one round of email. Inside a lease draft the same change takes attorneys and weeks. How a letter of intent works lists what belongs in it.

The mistake most first negotiations make

The most common mistake is winning a small cut in the asking rent and signing the rest as drafted. The lease still carries a full-rate escalation, a stale base year, a deposit that never shrinks and a sublet clause at the landlord's sole discretion.

The second mistake is timing. Leverage is alternatives plus time, and a tenant six weeks from the end of a lease has neither. Start nine to twelve months before the date you need the space.

A broker on your side supplies the half no listing shows: what a building has agreed to before. On your search, Nomad works for you, and in most transactions the landlord pays the broker fee.

What is on our book right now

Live from our listings · 6 of the 49, cheapest first

Nomad 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

All 49 available floors, with asking rents →

The full guide

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

Can a tenant get the asking rent itself reduced on a Manhattan office?

A little, sometimes. Expect it to move less than everything around it. A lease that keeps the asking rent and wins free months, an allowance and a lower escalation often costs less over the term than a small rent cut alone.

Which lease terms are easiest for a landlord to give?

The ones that cost nothing on signing day: a renewal option, a right of first offer on the floor next door, a reasonable sublet standard, a burn-down on the deposit. Free rent comes next, because the face rent stays untouched.

Does signing a letter of intent commit us to the floor?

Mostly not. The business terms generally bind no one until the lease itself is signed, though a confidentiality or exclusivity paragraph is often written to bind both sides. Avoid exclusivity that takes your second floor off the table, and have your attorney confirm what binds before you sign.

How many weeks pass between a first proposal and a signed lease?

Plan on one to two weeks of rounds to reach a signed letter of intent and three to six weeks for the lease after it. A complete letter of intent is what shortens the second stage. The full negotiation guide follows each step.

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