A covenant preventing the landlord from leasing to direct competitors in the center.
Also known as: Non-compete Clause
Exclusive use clauses protect the tenant's market share within the building or shopping center. A restaurant with an exclusive on "sit-down dining" prevents the landlord from leasing to another restaurant in the same complex. Without exclusivity, a direct competitor could open next door, cannibalizing sales and potentially triggering percentage rent disputes. Exclusive use rights are particularly critical for retail tenants whose business model depends on limited competition.
Found in the "Exclusivity" or "Exclusive Use" section, sometimes in a separate rider or addendum. The scope of the exclusivity (what is protected), the area (building, shopping center, or radius), and the remedies for breach are all key terms.
Lextract uses vision AI to read your lease PDF natively (scanned or digital), then multi-pass AI validation identifies and extracts the exclusive use. The AI searches for the field name and common aliases like "Non-compete Clause" across all pages of the document, then assigns a confidence score based on document quality and extraction certainty. Fields with lower confidence are flagged for human review.
A strong exclusive use clause defines exactly what products or services are protected, the geographic area covered (the entire shopping center, not just the building), the remedy if breached (rent reduction, termination right, or both), and whether the exclusivity survives lease renewals.
If an existing tenant already has the right to sell competing products, the new tenant's exclusive clause cannot retroactively restrict them. The new tenant should request disclosure of all existing exclusive use provisions before signing. This is a common due diligence failure.
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