Just because someone is a plumber, doesn’t mean they can clear a septic field, snake a basement pipe and also fix the drain in your bathtub. Specialties abound. And you don’t want to be caught deep in effluent.

Hire a reputable real estate attorney to review your lease, and you’ll regain every dollar you invest. You might have a niece with a law degree. You might even have a business attorney that handles a myriad of business issues. But real estate is a body of legal work unto itself. Ignore at your peril.

A friend who later became a client told me she used a general business attorney she found in the Yellow Pages to review her lease. She sought legal advice to terminate the lease on her office building after it was sold to a new owner because the change in management meant a thousand irritating situations.  The irritation escalated.

Eventually I helped her locate a marvelous space with a suitable landlord. She assumed her legal nightmares were behind her. It came back to haunt. The former building owner sued her twice in six months. Even though she won the case she had to pay the owner’s legal fees and the price of all the court costs was so staggering she almost lost her business.

Get the RIGHT counsel. As a veteran tenant representative for commercial and industrial properties I can read a lease and assess many things. But I don’t represent myself as an attorney. My firm will make recommendations for highly qualified commercial real estate barristers.

Think now about reviewing your lease with an attorney. If you haven’t done so in the last two or three years, maybe now is a good time to have it inspected. A little ounce of prevention saves a ton of grief and give-backs.