Your lease gives the landlord a recapture right, allowing them to terminate your lease and take back the space if you attempt to sublease or assign. Recapture rights effectively eliminate your ability to exit the lease through subletting because any attempt to find a subtenant triggers the landlord's right to reclaim the space entirely.
By Angel Campa, Founder · Updated March 2026
Flagged when the recapture right field is set to true.
Recapture rights create a catch-22 for tenants. If you need to downsize from 10,000 RSF to 5,000 RSF and attempt to sublease the excess space, the landlord can recapture the entire 10,000 RSF and release it at current market rates, which may be higher than your contracted rate. On a lease with $20 per RSF below-market rent, recapture on 10,000 RSF gives the landlord a $200,000 annual windfall. This makes subletting — often the only practical exit from a long-term lease — effectively unusable as a strategy.
Negotiate to eliminate the recapture right entirely or limit it to situations where the tenant seeks to assign the entire lease, not partial subletting. If the landlord insists on recapture rights, negotiate a "profit sharing" arrangement instead, where the landlord receives a percentage of any sublease profit rather than the right to recapture the space. Include exceptions for subleasing to affiliates, subsidiaries, or successors-in-interest. At minimum, require that recapture rights expire after a specified period, such as the first half of the lease term.
A recapture right allows the landlord to take back the leased premises if the tenant attempts to sublease or assign the lease. Instead of consenting to the sublease, the landlord terminates the original lease and releases the space directly, often at a higher current market rate.
Technically yes, but the landlord can respond to your sublease request by recapturing the space instead of consenting. This means any attempt to sublease puts your entire tenancy at risk. Many tenants with recapture clauses are effectively locked in with no sublease exit.
Not exactly. A recapture right is triggered only when the tenant requests to sublease or assign. It is not a unilateral termination right the landlord can exercise at any time. However, the practical effect is similar — it gives the landlord an option to end the lease under certain conditions.
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