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Commercial leases typically contain standard protections for landlords that may be potential pitfalls for tenants seeking to assign or transfer interests in a lease. A lease recapture provision permits a landlord to terminate a lease and “recapture” the leased premises when the tenant requests landlord’s consent to assign, sublease or transfer the lease. These recapture rights, which are frequently overlooked, can actually have shocking results for tenants. In order to assign a lease, the landlord’s consent is required. The Texas Property Code provides that leases, unlike certain other commercial contracts, are not assignable without a landlord’s prior written consent. Many leases enlarge the obligation to get consent by expressly preventing the tenant from selling or changing ownership interests in the tenant without landlord’s consent. These provisions can frustrate tenants in their efforts to expand, increase capital, perform corporate restructuring or to sell equity or assets of their companies. In some cases, the language is so broad that it could be construed to prevent certain collateral assignments that are ancillary to tenant financing. Negotiating Strategies Savvy commercial tenants carefully negotiate assignment and transfer language to include flexibility for future changes in the company. Brokers will often request that landlords consent to …