The one-page format
| Clause | Opening position | Fallback | Walk-away | Approver |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base rent escalations | Fixed annual increase | Fixed with a cap on the total | Flat rent for the full term | Leasing director |
| Percentage rent / breakpoint | Natural breakpoint | Artificial breakpoint at an agreed figure | No percentage rent on a national anchor | Asset manager |
| Operating cost recovery (CAM) | Pro-rata share, full pass-through | Cap on controllable costs | Fixed gross lease | Asset manager |
| Assignment and subletting | Landlord consent, recapture right | Consent not unreasonably withheld | Free assignment | Counsel |
| Exclusive use | None | Narrow exclusive with a sales-based sunset | Broad exclusive for the center | Leasing director |
| Radius restriction | Present | Narrower radius | Deleted | Counsel |
| Co-tenancy | None | Remedy of reduced rent for a fixed period | Termination right | Asset manager |
| Insurance and indemnity | Landlord form | Mutual indemnity, carve-outs for negligence | Waiver of subrogation both ways only | Counsel |
| Default and cure | Short cure period | Longer cure for non-monetary defaults | Landlord's remedies cut | Counsel |
| Tenant improvement allowance | Per LOI | Amortized into rent | Above the approved budget | Leasing director |
These are illustrative rows, not market advice. Replace each with your own positions; the columns are what matters.
How to build yours
- Start from your last ten signed leases. Note where you gave ground and on what.
- Write the fallback in words an assistant can follow. "Accept up to 3% annual increase, otherwise counter with a fixed 3%" is usable. "Be flexible" isn't.
- Name the approver. A tool should flag anything beyond the fallback for that person, not resolve it.
- Mark the clauses that are never negotiated by anyone but counsel.
- Date it and review after each major deal. Positions move with vacancy and market.
Using it with a tool
- Word-based redliners such as Gavel Exec, Dioptra and Spellbook say they apply a playbook to a draft. Ask how the playbook is stored and whether you can export it.
- Form-based drafting such as LeasePilot encodes fallbacks in a clause library; the vendor calls it a Clausebook.
- A negotiation record shows what each tenant asked for before. Acrebase describes this as counterparty profiles built from the other side's own paper. We haven't seen it run on a real portfolio.
Whatever you choose, keep the playbook in a file you control, and test the tool on a lease you already closed. The pillar guide has the 10-minute test, and AI contract review playbook governance covers who owns changes to it.
Sources
- Acrebase, company site (pages read October 21, 2026) (Vendor claims; product, pricing and company pages)
- LeasePilot, lease drafting software and pricing (Vendor claims)
- Gavel Exec, real estate law (Vendor claims)
Questions and answers
What is a lease negotiation playbook?
A table of positions by clause: what you open with, your fallback, your walk-away and who can approve an exception. It's the instruction set that lets a team, or a tool, respond to a markup consistently.
Do I need AI software to use a playbook?
No. A playbook works with a spreadsheet and a Word comparison. Software only applies it faster, so write the playbook first.
How detailed should fallbacks be?
Detailed enough that someone new could respond without asking: a number, a cap, a time limit. Vague fallbacks produce vague AI output.
Who should own the playbook?
Usually counsel with the leasing director, reviewed after each major deal. Our governance guide covers change control for AI-applied playbooks.
Can I give the playbook to a vendor?
Only after you've read the vendor's data terms, because a playbook shows your negotiating positions. Ask whether it's used for training and whether you can delete it.
Operational information, not legal advice. Tool descriptions are each vendor's own claims, read October 21, 2026; we did not test any product.