Almost nobody reading this is looking for theory. You have space you cannot afford, or cannot use, or cannot stand, and you want to know what it costs to be out of it. So let me start with the part people hope is not true.
There is no cancellation clause
A commercial lease is not a phone contract. There is no early termination fee written into the standard form, no thirty-day out, and no consumer protection statute that shortens your obligation because the business slowed down. Florida law gives commercial tenants far less statutory cover than residential tenants get, and courts here generally enforce commercial lease language as the parties wrote it. Whatever your exit costs, it comes from one of four places: a right already in your lease, a replacement tenant, a check to your landlord, or a fight.
The good news is that landlords are not sentimental. A landlord wants the space performing. If you bring them a solution, most of them will take it. If you bring them a problem, they will price it.
Find these clauses before you call anybody
Pull the lease and any amendments. You are looking for five things, and I would highlight them physically:
- Assignment and subletting. Does it require landlord consent, and does it say consent will not be unreasonably withheld? Is there a recapture right letting the landlord terminate instead of consenting?
- Any termination right you already have. Kick-out clauses tied to sales thresholds, co-tenancy failures in retail, casualty and condemnation provisions, a failure by the landlord to deliver something it promised.
- Default and remedies. Cure periods, acceleration language, and what the landlord may do with the space after you leave.
- The guaranty. Separate document, usually. Full term or capped.
- Unamortized cost recapture. Tenant improvement allowance, free rent, and commissions that become due on early termination.
Also confirm what you actually owe today. In net leases, tenants routinely overpay reconciliations for years without noticing, and a lease and CAM audit occasionally produces a credit that changes the shape of the whole conversation. Going into a negotiation with a documented billing error is a very different posture than going in to beg.
Route one: put a replacement in your place
Assignment
An assignment transfers your entire interest to someone else, who steps into your shoes for the rest of the term. It is the cleanest exit and the one landlords accept most readily, because their rent roll does not change. What surprises tenants is that an assignment almost never releases you. Absent an express written release from the landlord, the original tenant stays liable, and so does the guarantor. You have handed over the space and kept the risk. Ask for a release. If the landlord will not give a full release, ask for one that takes effect after the assignee has paid on time for twelve or twenty-four months.
Sublease
A sublease keeps you as the tenant and puts your subtenant behind you. You collect from them and you keep paying the landlord. If your subtenant fails, you are still on the hook, so the credit of the subtenant matters more than the rent they offer. Subleases are useful when you only need to shed part of the space or part of the term. They are a poor answer when the goal is to be fully out.
The consent standard is the whole ballgame
Read the exact words. If your lease says consent "shall not be unreasonably withheld," you have something to work with, and a landlord who refuses a well-qualified replacement for no articulated reason is in a weaker position. If the lease says "sole and absolute discretion," or is silent on the standard, assume the landlord can say no for reasons that will never seem fair to you. I am a broker, not a lawyer. The enforceability of a specific consent provision is a question for a Florida real estate attorney, and so is any assignment, sublease, or termination agreement someone hands you to sign. But you can read which one you have in about ninety seconds, and it determines whether route one is realistic.
Watch for recapture. Many leases let the landlord respond to an assignment request by terminating the lease and taking the space back. If the market has moved up since you signed, that is a live risk, because the landlord may prefer your space empty and re-rentable at today's rate over your replacement at your rate.
Route two: buy your way out
A termination agreement, sometimes called a lease buyout, is a negotiated payment in exchange for a full release. Price it from the landlord's side of the table, because that is the only side that decides.
The landlord is weighing the remaining rent stream against what it costs to replace you: months of vacancy, a new tenant improvement package, a fresh commission, free rent, and the risk that the next tenant is worse than you. Against that, they weigh what your space rents for today. If market rent has risen above what you pay, your buyout gets cheap fast, and in a strongly rising submarket the honest number can approach zero. If your rent is above market, or your space is odd, or the building is soft, expect a demand somewhere in the range of the remaining rent, discounted.
Size matters to your sense of scale here. Across 690 recorded industrial transfers in Broward from 2021 through 2026, the median building that sold was 5,066 square feet at a median price of $1,110,000. Take a purely hypothetical tenant in a building that size with four years left at an assumed $20 per square foot triple net. That is roughly $101,000 a year and about $405,000 of remaining base rent, which is more than a third of what the entire building traded for. That is why landlords treat a buyout request as a real negotiation rather than a favor, and why walking in without a number of your own is a mistake.
Route three: stop trying to leave
The exit is not always the cheapest fix. Three alternatives get less attention than they deserve:
- Blend and extend. You take a lower rent now in exchange for adding years. Landlords like term. If your problem is cash flow rather than the location, this solves it without a check.
- Partial surrender. Give back a portion of the premises. Works best where the space can be demised sensibly and the landlord has demand for the giveback.
- Right-size at renewal instead. If you have eighteen months left, you may be closer to a normal renewal negotiation than to an exit. Run your actual headcount through a space calculator before you assume you need out, then read how renewals get negotiated here.
The one thing all three require is time. A tenant with fifteen months left has options. A tenant with sixty days and no rent money has one.
Route four: default, and what Florida actually allows
Some tenants end up here regardless. Understand what it looks like.
Florida treats nonresidential tenancies under a separate part of its landlord-tenant chapter from residential ones, and the protections are not the same. Do not assume a South Florida commercial landlord has a general duty to re-rent your space after you leave. Depending on which remedy the landlord elects, it may retake possession for its own account, retake for the tenant's account and relet, or leave the space alone and sue for rent as it becomes due. Many commercial leases in this market also address mitigation expressly, sometimes disclaiming it. What your landlord may do is a question of your lease language plus Florida law, and it is the first thing a Florida real estate attorney should read for you. I negotiate these deals; I do not give legal advice on how a default will be resolved.
Two other realities. Many South Florida leases contain acceleration language making the balance of the term immediately due upon default, and whether and how that is enforced in a given case is a legal question worth asking early. And holding over past the end of the term is expensive on its own: Florida law permits a nonresidential landlord who has demanded possession in writing to seek double rent from a tenant who refuses to give up the premises.
Does closing the business end the guarantee?
No. That is the answer most people are actually searching for, and it is the one I get asked in the first three minutes of these calls.
Dissolving the LLC does not extinguish a personal guarantee. The guarantee is your separate promise, and it usually survives the tenant entity's bankruptcy, dissolution, or disappearance. Most forms also let the landlord come after the guarantor directly without first exhausting remedies against the company. If your guarantee is capped or burns down over time, the cap is your number and you should know it before you make any decision. If it is a full-term guarantee, the exposure is the rest of the lease. Either way, read what a personal guaranty actually commits you to, and then have an attorney read your specific document.
What I would do this week
- Read the five clauses above and write down your worst case in dollars.
- Get an attorney's read on the guaranty and the remedies section. This is the money.
- Find out what your space rents for today. That single number tells you whether a buyout is cheap or brutal.
- Line up a replacement tenant before you tell the landlord you want out, if the consent standard makes that realistic.
- Only then open the conversation, with a proposal rather than a problem.
Tenants who start this eighteen months out usually get an outcome they can live with. Tenants who start it after the first missed payment usually do not. If you are somewhere in between, a renegotiation conversation costs you nothing and will at least tell you which of the four routes is actually open.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I break a commercial lease in Florida without penalty?
Only if your lease gives you a right to, such as a kick-out clause, a co-tenancy failure, or a casualty provision. Standard commercial leases have no early termination right, and Florida gives commercial tenants far less statutory protection than residential tenants. Realistically you are choosing between assigning, subletting, negotiating a buyout, or defaulting, and each has a different price.
Does my landlord have to re-rent the space if I leave early?
Do not assume so. Florida handles nonresidential tenancies under a different part of its landlord-tenant law than residential ones, and a commercial landlord may have several remedies available depending on the lease and the facts. Many South Florida leases also address mitigation expressly. Have a Florida real estate attorney read your remedies section before you rely on any assumption about reletting.
What does a commercial lease buyout typically cost?
It depends almost entirely on what your space is worth today. If market rent has risen above your rent, the landlord may re-lease quickly and the buyout gets cheap. If your rent is above market or the building is soft, expect a demand approaching the remaining rent, plus unamortized tenant improvement money and commissions. Get a current rental value before you negotiate.
Is subleasing better than assigning my lease?
Assignment is cleaner if the goal is to be fully out, because the assignee takes the whole remaining term. Sublease keeps you as the tenant and leaves you liable if the subtenant fails, but it works well for shedding part of your space or part of the term. Either way, most leases require landlord consent, so read the consent standard first.
If I assign my lease, am I off the hook?
Usually not. Absent an express written release from the landlord, the original tenant and the guarantor generally stay liable after an assignment. That surprises people who assume handing over the space ends the obligation. Ask for a release as part of the consent, or a release that takes effect once the new tenant has paid on time for twelve to twenty-four months.
Does closing my business end my personal guarantee?
No. Dissolving the LLC does not extinguish a personal guarantee, which is your own separate promise and typically survives the tenant entity's dissolution or bankruptcy. Most guaranty forms also allow the landlord to pursue the guarantor directly without first suing the company. Find out whether yours is capped, burns down over time, or runs the full term.
What happens if I just stop paying rent and hand back the keys?
The landlord can pursue possession and damages, and many leases contain acceleration language making the balance of the term immediately due. Holding over is worse: Florida law lets a nonresidential landlord who has demanded possession in writing seek double rent from a tenant who refuses to leave. A judgment against you personally is likely if you signed a guarantee.
