Drafting tenant improvement work letters requires careful attention to construction timelines, cost allocation, and allowance disbursement terms. Attorneys spend hours customizing templates, ensuring consistency with the base lease, and negotiating provisions for hard costs, soft costs, permits, and excess expenses. Manual drafting increases the risk of missing critical provisions or creating inconsistencies between the work letter and lease agreement.
Drafting comprehensive tenant improvement work letters requires balancing complex construction procedures, approval processes, and financial terms while protecting both landlord and tenant interests. Attorneys spend hours crafting detailed provisions for design approval, TI allowances, disbursement procedures, and completion timelines. Manual drafting is time-consuming, prone to inconsistencies, and often delays lease execution.
CaseMark automates the creation of detailed tenant improvement work letters tailored to your commercial lease terms. Our AI generates comprehensive provisions covering design approval, construction standards, TI allowance structures, and disbursement procedures in minutes. Ensure consistency, reduce drafting time, and deliver professional work letters that seamlessly integrate with your lease agreements.
This workflow is applicable across multiple practice areas and use cases
Commercial real estate transactions frequently require tenant improvement work letters as critical exhibits to purchase agreements, development agreements, and build-to-suit arrangements.
TI work letters are essential documents in commercial real estate transactions beyond just leasing, including property sales with existing tenant obligations and new development projects requiring construction specifications.
Corporate counsel managing office expansions, relocations, or facility build-outs need TI work letters to document construction obligations and allowances in corporate real estate portfolios.
In-house corporate legal teams regularly negotiate and draft TI work letters when companies lease new office space or expand existing facilities, making this a routine corporate legal function.
TI allowances and construction obligations represent significant financial commitments that must be documented in corporate financing transactions and lease accounting compliance.
Corporate finance attorneys need to structure and document TI allowances properly for financial reporting, lease accounting standards (ASC 842), and when leases are part of larger financing arrangements.
A tenant improvement work letter is a detailed exhibit to a commercial lease that governs the construction, approval, and payment process for improvements to leased premises. It establishes procedures for design approval, construction standards, tenant improvement allowances, disbursement of funds, and completion timelines. The work letter protects both landlord and tenant by clearly defining responsibilities, costs, and procedures throughout the improvement process.
Tenant improvement allowances typically cover hard costs (direct construction costs including labor and materials) and soft costs (architectural fees, engineering fees, permits, and project management). The work letter should specify which costs are eligible for reimbursement and which are excluded, such as furniture, equipment, telecommunications cabling, or costs from tenant-requested changes. Any costs exceeding the allowance are the tenant's responsibility.
The approval timeline varies but typically includes 10-15 business days for landlord review of each plan submission, plus time for tenant to prepare initial designs and incorporate revisions. The complete process from initial space plan through final approved construction documents often takes 4-8 weeks. The work letter should establish specific deadlines for each phase and address whether approval delays extend the rent commencement date.
The work letter should distinguish between excusable delays (force majeure, landlord-caused delays, governmental delays) and non-excusable delays (tenant-caused delays, contractor issues). Excusable delays typically extend the rent commencement date, while non-excusable delays do not. The work letter may also establish landlord's remedies for failure to complete, including the right to complete the work and charge the tenant or terminate the lease.
Yes, CaseMark generates work letters tailored to your specific lease terms and property type, whether office, retail, industrial, or mixed-use. The AI adapts provisions for design approval processes, construction standards, allowance structures, and completion requirements based on your transaction details. You can customize TI allowance amounts, eligible costs, approval timelines, and other key terms to match your deal structure.