Cable TV: Who Pays For It, Landlord Or Tenant

A good question, especially if you have a commercial rental property, which is being leased as office space by a tenant, who would like to run a cable through the entire building for networking purposes. And expensive proposition, as the service amounts to over $12,000, which the tenant would like you, as the landlord to pay for. And, when the lease expires, the tenant says, he / she will move out taking the server, but will leave the cable behind. You might well ask if it is normal for landlords to provide cable, and whether he / she has any obligations towards the tenant, relating to down time, or if work is lost due to the system malfunctioning.

You may not like the initial expenditure outlay, but accept it, as when the current tenant moves out, you will be able to raise the rent for your commercial rental property on the basis of it coming equipped with network cable.

Apart, from that, it is but natural on a landlord’s part to worry about potential legal liability, but liability problems can be warded off, as a commercial lease is a contract agreement and landlords and tenants are free to set their own rules. As long as, both landlord and tenant agree, the legal liability issue can be resolved by discussing both tenant / landlord responsibilities together, and putting it all down in writing.

When you negotiate lease terms regarding the cable with current or future tenants, inform them that they are free to make use of the existing cabling, but you will not be held responsible for its functioning and will not make any guarantees about its condition. If, your tenants also agree that the responsibility of maintaining the cable is not yours and that you are exempt from paying for any losses due to any malfunctions, ensure it is put down in writing, in order to avoid any problems, later on.