Use Clauses, 24/7 Access and Building Hours for Tech Tenants

Founders tend to ask one question on a tour: "Can we work here whenever we want?" The lease breaks that into three, and each has its own clause.

• What are we allowed to do in the space? That is the use clause.
• When can our people physically get in? That is access.
• Which building services run at that hour, and who pays for them? That is building hours and after-hours services.

A technology company can pass one test and fail another. An office with round-the-clock card access may shut off cooling in the evening. A building with generous hours may limit your use to "general office" in a way that rules out the hardware bench your team needs. Read all three together against how your team actually operates.

Most office forms permit "general office use and no other use." For a software team that writes code at desks, that is enough. The trouble starts when the work extends past desks.

• Hardware and device work: prototyping, soldering, light assembly, testing sensors or robots, charging and storing batteries.
• Lab-style activity: equipment that produces heat, noise, vibration or fumes, or that needs special exhaust or power.
• Server and network equipment beyond a typical IT closet.
• Events: meetups, hackathons, recruiting nights, customer training and demos that bring the public into the suite.
• Media: recording studios, video production or anything needing sound isolation.
• Kitchens and food service beyond a standard pantry.
• Shipping and receiving at a volume more like a small warehouse than an office.

If any of these are in your plan, name them. Ask for permitted use to read as general office plus the specific activities you need, along with uses that are ancillary or incidental to your business. Landlords are generally more comfortable approving a described activity than an open-ended phrase, and a described activity is harder to dispute later.

The lease is not the only limit. Zoning, the building’s certificate of occupancy, fire and building codes, and the landlord’s insurance and loan documents can each restrict use. A landlord’s consent does not override any of them. Ask the landlord to confirm that your intended use is permitted for the building, and have your attorney and architect verify the zoning and code side. If the work is substantial, flex or light industrial space may be the better fit than stretching an office use clause.

Limits on use also appear in places a first-time reader skips.

• ✓Do the building rules and regulations restrict deliveries, equipment, noise, odors, bicycles, pets or after-hours visitors?
• ✓Can the landlord change the rules during the term, and must changes be reasonable and applied to all tenants alike?
• ✓Does another tenant hold an exclusive use right that could limit what we do or sell?
• ✓Does the hazardous materials clause prohibit batteries, solvents, compressed gases or other items we use in ordinary quantities?
• ✓Is there a density or occupancy limit on the number of people per floor that conflicts with our headcount plan?
• ✓Does the lease require continuous operation or, the opposite, treat a mostly remote team as having vacated or abandoned the space?
• ✓Are subtenants and assignees held to our exact use, or to any lawful office use?

The last point matters more than it seems. A use clause written tightly around your business can make the space harder to sublease, because the next occupant will not be in your business. Broad language helps your exit as well as your operations.

Many leases state that the tenant has access to the premises twenty-four hours a day, every day of the year. Where the form is silent, ask for that sentence. Then look at what qualifies it.

• Exceptions. Access is usually subject to emergencies, repairs, the landlord’s security procedures and events outside its control. Reasonable, but the list should be short.
• How entry works after hours. Find out whether the lobby is staffed, whether entry is by card or by a call to security, and which doors and elevators operate overnight and on weekends.
• Parking and loading. Garage and dock hours often differ from the office tower. A team receiving equipment or leaving late needs both.
• Guests and contractors. Ask how after-hours visitors, cleaners you hire and IT vendors get in, and how far ahead they must be registered.
• Credentials. Confirm how many access cards are included, what additional ones cost and how quickly a new hire can be issued one.

Access rights for the landlord run the other direction and belong in the same conversation. If your team works at night, an unannounced visit from building staff or a prospective lender lands during working hours for you. Notice requirements and escort rules for secure areas are covered in our guide to physical security.

Building hours are the stated times when the landlord provides standard services as part of rent, typically business hours on weekdays and sometimes part of Saturday, excluding listed holidays. Outside those hours, the space is open but the services may not be running.

• ✓What exactly are the building hours and holidays, and are they written into the lease?
• ✓Which services stop outside those hours: heating and cooling, ventilation, passenger elevators, freight elevator, lobby staff, security patrols?
• ✓How do we request after-hours heating and cooling, how much notice is needed, and is there a minimum charge per request?
• ✓What is the after-hours rate, how is it calculated, and how can it change during the term?
• ✓Is lighting and plug power in our suite available at all hours without extra charge?
• ✓When does janitorial service happen, and can it be scheduled around a team that works evenings?
• ✓If a service fails, does the lease give us any rent abatement or other remedy after a stated period?

For a team with a real evening or weekend pattern, after-hours heating and cooling can become a meaningful recurring cost. Some tenants negotiate extended standard hours, a block of included after-hours time, or a rate tied to the landlord’s actual cost. Equipment that must stay cool at all times is a different problem, usually solved with a dedicated unit, which we cover in the guide to supplemental cooling.

Tour the building once in the evening. You learn more about after-hours access, lighting, security and temperature in one short visit than from any brochure.

These terms are easiest to win early. A landlord responding to a request for proposal alongside other buildings will usually confirm use, access and hours without much friction. The same requests after the lease draft is nearly final look like new demands.

1. Write down what your team does beyond desk work, including what you expect to add over the term.
2. Describe your real working pattern: evenings, weekends, on-call rotations, events.
3. Put the intended use, access requirement and after-hours service terms in the request for proposal.
4. Compare the answers across buildings, including the after-hours rates.
5. Carry the agreed language into the letter of intent and then the lease, and have your attorney review it.

Tenant Advisory Group represents tenants and buyers, and for the technology companies we advise we raise use, access and hours at the proposal stage so that a building is ruled in or out on how the team actually works.