In this article, you'll learn:

• How rent abatements can offer temporary relief by reducing or waiving rent.
• The advantages of rent deferrals, letting you pay rent later to conserve cash now.
• Lease extensions as a way to secure abatements by extending your stay.
• Creative options like percentage rent or additional guarantees for more flexibility.

Whether or not COVID-19 meets the legal standard necessary to trigger the force majeure clause in your lease, from a layperson's perspective, it's about as big of a force majeure as anyone can imagine. With the economy in the midst of a major slowdown, businesses seek ways to cut expenses. Given that payroll costs are either being cut by furloughs or covered through promised government assistance programs like the Paycheck Protection Program, a commercial real estate lease restructure represents the next opportunity for cost cutting. Although most leases are binding contracts with little room for adjustment, the realities of the situation under COVID-19 is that many landlords are willing to work with their tenants. Here are some of the broad ways that tenants can restructure commercial real estate leases: