The NYC Office Lease: From Letter of Intent to a Signed Lease
An office lease is the binding contract between your company and a landlord for a floor, and it is what turns any of the office spaces for rent in NYC into your office. It follows the letter of intent, a short and mostly non-binding summary of the business terms. Between the two come the landlord's draft, your attorney's review, a few rounds of negotiation, the security and the signatures. That stretch commonly takes three to six weeks. Nomad carries the business terms through it, and your attorney carries the document. The floors below are sized for about 18 people.
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Send me floors for 18 peopleUpdated 2026-10-03 · Nomad Group
Letter of intent and office lease: two documents, two jobs
The letter of intent runs a few pages. It records the rent, the term, the free rent, the improvement allowance or landlord's work, the security and the date the space is delivered. Most of it binds neither side, though paragraphs on confidentiality or exclusivity are often written to, which your attorney should confirm before anyone signs.
The lease is the long document that follows, and all of it binds. It is drafted on the landlord's own form, which starts out favoring the owner. A complete letter of intent is what stops the lease from turning into a second negotiation over the economics. How a letter of intent works covers the first document in full.
The steps between a signed LOI and an executed lease
- The landlord's attorney issues a first draft on the building's form.
- Your attorney reviews it and returns a markup.
- The two sides trade drafts. Two or three rounds is normal.
- The security is put in place: cash on deposit or a letter of credit issued by your bank, plus any guarantee the landlord requires.
- Both parties sign, the insurance certificates the lease calls for are delivered, and the landlord hands over possession on the date the lease sets.
If the floor needs work, design can begin during these weeks, which shortens the wait after signature.
Who does what at signing: Nomad on the terms, your attorney on the document
Nomad holds the business terms: rent, term, free rent, the allowance, the security and the options. When a draft drifts from what the letter of intent said, we take it back to the landlord's side and hold them to the agreed deal.
Your attorney owns the legal language: the conditions, the defaults, the notice mechanics and everything else in the fine print. We do not give legal advice, and a broker's reading is no substitute for counsel's. An attorney who handles office leases as a regular practice will usually move faster than a generalist. What a direct lease is describes the structure you are signing.
The term an office lease commits you to, and the two dates that start it
On a private floor a 12 month lease is possible, and 24 and 36 months are more common. Rent per square foot tends to rise as the term gets shorter. A conventional direct lease on a floor the landlord builds out for you runs longer, commonly five to seven years, because the owner recovers its free rent and construction money across the term.
The term is fixed in the letter of intent. Two dates in the lease then set the clock. The commencement date starts the term, and the rent commencement date, which can fall later, starts the base rent.
After the signature: when an 18-person team gets its desks
A furnished or pre-built floor is usually ready to occupy two to four weeks after signing. Those weeks go to insurance certificates, internet and building access more than to construction. Where a custom buildout is required, allow 10 to 16 weeks for design, permits and the work itself. The search-to-keys timeline gives the weeks for every stage.
Floors that fit a team of 18
Live from our listings · 6 of the 17, smallest firstA team of 18 plans on about 3,150 square feet at 175 a person. 17 floors on our book sit in the range that fits, 3,150 to 5,670 square feet, asking $50 to $135 per square foot per year.
- Floors
- 17
- Sizes
- 3,500-5,621 sq ft
- Asking rent
- $50-$135 / sq ft
- 6 Greene Street, Entire 2nd Floor 4,900 sq ft $78/sq ft SoHo about 28 people
- 30 West 21st Street, Penthouse floor 5,250 sq ft $115/sq ft Flatiron about 30 people
- 104-110 Greene Street, Partial 11th Floor 5,375 sq ft $110/sq ft SoHo about 31 people
- 276 Fifth Avenue, 9th Floor 5,500 sq ft $52/sq ft Flatiron about 31 people
- 503-511 Broadway, Penthouse 5,552 sq ft $125/sq ft SoHo about 32 people
- Empire State Building, Partial 43rd Floor 5,621 sq ft $90/sq ft NoMad about 32 people
The full guide
This page is the short answer. The long one, with the numbers worked through, is here:
Related topics
- Office Space for Lease in Manhattan: Which District Suits Which Company
- Office Leasing in NYC When Your Lease Is Expiring: When to Start
- Office Rentals in NYC for a Small Business: What 8 to 15 People Can Rent
- Office Space for Rent, Narrowed to a Shortlist: What Is on It and How It Is Chosen
Is anything binding before the office lease itself is signed?
Usually only parts of the letter of intent, such as confidentiality or exclusivity, where they are drafted to bind. The rent and the other business terms generally bind no one until the lease is executed, so either side can still walk away. Have your attorney confirm which paragraphs bind on the specific document.
Can the rent still change after the letter of intent?
It can, since the terms are not yet binding, but it rarely does. A landlord who signed the economics seldom reopens them in drafts, because the letter stands as the written record of what was agreed.
Do we need our own lawyer if Nomad is negotiating?
Yes. The broker and the attorney do different work. We negotiate the business terms and stay in the deal until signature. Your attorney reviews and negotiates the document, and is the one to advise you on what its clauses mean in law.
What slows the lease stage down most?
Reopening economics that were settled in the letter of intent, and slow replies on the tenant's own side. A complete letter and quick answers to each draft are what keep the stage near three weeks instead of six.
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
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