How to Ask for Free Rent While You Build Out
Free rent while you build out is one of the terms on our lease checklist, and you can ask for it.
At Reach Commercial Real Estate, we represent tenants. We help you find locations, compare costs, investigate property questions and negotiate the lease. You bring your business plans. We help you evaluate where those plans fit.
This guide covers the permit review times, validity periods and deadlines published for Melbourne and Florida.
1. Ask for free rent while you build out
We negotiate rent, free rent, tenant improvement dollars, renewal options and who pays for the roof. We negotiate rent and concessions, then the clauses that bite later: CAM caps, HVAC, escalations, assignment.
You can ask for free rent during the buildout. You can ask for a permit contingency and a TI allowance on the same list. Every term on our lease checklist is yours to ask for.
Once you select a property, we negotiate the business terms. Your Florida commercial leasing attorney reviews the legal language and documents. We focus on approval contingencies and rent commencement, among other terms.
2. Learn the permit clock in Melbourne
Melbourne's Building Section says commercial construction permits typically average 14 to 21 working days for approval or response when plans require a single review. Fire system permits (alarms, sprinklers, etc.) typically average 7 to 10 working days.
The Building Section FAQ gives these validity periods:
A permit application is valid for 180 days or with current review activity.
Once a permit is issued, it has 180 days to achieve an approved inspection, or it is automatically placed in expired status due to inactivity.
3. Add Florida's permit deadlines
For signs and nonresidential buildings under 25,000 square feet, section 553.792(1)(a)4 of the Florida Statutes gives a local government 60 business days after a complete and sufficient application to approve, approve with conditions or deny. That deadline applies to an applicant using a local government plans reviewer, unless the applicant waives the timeframes in writing.
The local government has 5 business days after receipt to notify you in writing what is needed to complete the application. If it does not give timely notice, the application is deemed properly completed and accepted (section 553.792(1)(c)).
A local government must meet these timeframes unless the timeframes set by local ordinance are more stringent (section 553.792(1)(b)).
4. Count the months of rent you pay while contractors are on site
We compare offers on total occupancy cost: base rent, CAM, taxes, insurance, escalations, buildout and the months of rent you'll pay while contractors are still on site.
Our tenant checklist asks about the timeline from signing to opening, under what has to be built.
For each candidate property, we request annual rent increases, proposed landlord work, the improvement allowance, and the availability and delivery condition. If a critical answer is missing, we keep the property under investigation.
Rent carries no state sales tax or discretionary sales surtax for rental periods that begin on or after October 1, 2025 (Florida Department of Revenue, TIP 25A01-04).
Start nine to twelve months before your lease ends. Eighteen if you need a buildout. Longer if the space needs buildout, permits or a change of use. Starting late is the easiest way to lose leverage.
5. Know when you can occupy the space
The Florida Building Code, Building, section 111.1 says a building cannot be used or occupied until the building official has issued a certificate of occupancy.
The building official can issue a temporary certificate of occupancy before the entire work is complete if the portion occupied is safe, and sets the time period it is valid (section 111.3).
The certificate of occupancy states the use and occupancy under Chapter 3 of the code and the design occupant load (section 111.2). For a bakery, the code lists bakeries in Group F-1 (section 306.2). For a hair salon, it lists barber and beauty shops in Group B (section 304.1). For a boutique, it lists retail or wholesale stores in Group M (section 309.1).
We want to know which approvals apply before you commit. If additional approvals are necessary, we bring the expected process and timing into the lease discussion.
Our role is to help bring these findings into your property decision. Your qualified professionals and reviewing agencies determine the requirements.
6. Keep your lease dates aligned with the buildout
After signing, your contractor and design team manage plans, permits and construction within their responsibilities. We stay focused on the lease-related items.
Keep track of:
Possession and delivery dates.
Landlord work.
Improvement-allowance submissions.
Construction deadlines.
Insurance requirements.
Rent commencement.
Extra items to check
Schedule changes. If the project schedule changes, raise the lease implications early. Review the documents with your attorney rather than assume a delay changes your payment obligations.
Zoning approval for the county receipt. Brevard County charges $25 for Zoning use Permit Approval for Business Tax Receipts.
Utilities, deposits and rent due before opening. Your occupancy review should include them, along with repairs and maintenance assigned to you.
Impact fees. In unincorporated Brevard County, impact fees are due prior to pre-power or final inspection, whichever occurs first.
Start your search with Reach
You do not need to find the property before calling us. Helping you find and evaluate the property is part of our work.
Bring your requirements, budget, preferred area and target opening date. For each candidate, we request proposed landlord work, and availability and delivery condition. We will use those details to build your search, compare locations and negotiate the lease. In most deals the landlord pays our fee.
Already found a space? Send me the address and listing. We will start with the property questions and deal terms you need to investigate.
Call Cassandra Hartford at 321-514-0876.
Related: the leasing guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens if a local government misses the Florida permit deadline?
The local government must reduce the building permit fee by 10 percent for each business day that it fails to meet the deadline, unless the parties agree in writing to a reasonable extension of time, the delay is caused by the applicant, or the delay is attributable to a force majeure or other extraordinary circumstances (section 553.792(1)(e)).
Does a Melbourne business need a business tax receipt before it opens?
Melbourne's Financial Services page says a Business Tax Receipt must be obtained before the business begins operation, and that a separate receipt is required for each place of business. The city's new-business toolkit says a Brevard County Business Tax Receipt must be obtained once the City of Melbourne receipt is in hand.
Does the 60-business-day deadline cover every nonresidential building?
The statute's list covers signs and nonresidential buildings that are less than 25,000 square feet. The list has no deadline for a nonresidential building of 25,000 square feet or more.
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Written by Cassandra Hartford, founder and CEO of Reach Commercial Real Estate. She has worked in Brevard County commercial real estate for 17 years, representing buyers, sellers, landlords, and tenants across Florida's Space Coast.
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