Exclusive Use Clause

How exclusives work

The clause defines a protected use — sometimes narrowly (“the sale of coffee and espresso-based beverages as a primary use”), sometimes broadly — and prohibits the landlord from permitting competing uses in other space it controls. Typical carve-outs include tenants already in place when the exclusive was granted, anchor tenants who negotiate freedom from other tenants' exclusives, and incidental sales below a stated share of floor area or revenue.

The rogue tenant problem

A landlord can only promise what it controls. If an existing tenant with a broad permitted use starts competing, the landlord may have no right to stop it. Well-drafted exclusives therefore distinguish between violations the landlord causes — signing a new lease that conflicts — and rogue tenants, with softer remedies for the latter: an obligation to pursue the violator, and sometimes partial rent relief while the conflict continues.

What to watch for

• Remedies: reduced rent, abatement, or termination if a violation persists past the cure period.
• Scope creep across amendments: exclusives granted years apart at the same center can overlap or conflict with one another.
• Reach: whether the exclusive binds outparcels and property the landlord acquires later.

For a buyer or a prospective tenant, the accumulated stack of exclusives at a center is effectively a map of what can and cannot be leased — and that map exists only in the lease files.

In your documents

The classic question — can we lease this space to a food and beverage tenant without tripping someone's exclusive? — requires reading provisions scattered across every lease at the property. That is the kind of review due diligence with Sevrel is designed for: answers linked to retrieved lease language, with the caveat that retrieval may not surface every relevant clause, so validate against the complete file set.