Resource center
Guides to Leasing and Buying Medical and Dental Space
Plain-English guides for physicians, dentists and therapists choosing, negotiating and building out clinical space.
A clinic is harder to move than an office.
Plumbing, shielding, patient access and years of goodwill at one address all raise the stakes on a clinical lease. These guides cover what is different about medical and dental space, what to negotiate and when to bring in healthcare counsel.
Start here
Clinical space, in plain English
What makes medical and dental space different, how much you need and what drives the cost.
Clinical space basics
Choosing a Location for a Medical Practice
A location decision is easier when it is drawn on a map instead of argued from memory. Most of the data you need is already in your practice.
Read the guide →How Much Space Does a Medical Practice Need?
Generic per-doctor ratios tell you little about your own schedule. A short calculation built from your own numbers gets you much closer.
Read the guide →How to Find Medical Office Space for Lease
A listings site shows what is being advertised. A good search starts earlier, with your patients, your referral sources and what your services need from a building.
Read the guide →On-Campus vs Off-Campus Medical Office Space
Being next to the hospital can be a real advantage for some practices. It also tends to come with a second party who has a say in what you do.
Read the guide →Second-Generation Medical Space: Reusing a Prior Build-Out
A suite with sinks already in the exam rooms is appealing. The questions are what still works, what fits you and who pays for it when you leave.
Read the guide →Office Space for Therapy and Behavioral Health Practices
A therapy practice can often lease ordinary office space. What it cannot do without is privacy, and privacy depends on walls, doors and how the suite is laid out.
Read the guide →What Does Medical Office Space Really Cost?
A quoted rate is one line in a longer budget. This guide lists the other lines, so you can get a real number for the suite you are considering.
Read the guide →What Is Medical Office Space?
The phrase describes how a space is built and used. The differences show up in the walls, the mechanical systems and the lease.
Read the guide →Dental space
How Your Dental Lease Affects Selling Your Practice
A buyer is purchasing patients and goodwill at a particular address. If the lease cannot go with the sale, a large part of the value may not go either.
Read the guide →Dental Office Build-Out: What to Plan For
A dental build-out is won or lost before construction starts, when you still have time to check the building, the state rules and the lease.
Read the guide →Dental Office Leases: What Dentists Should Know
Rent gets most of the attention. For a dentist, the clauses that decide what the practice is worth later deserve at least as much.
Read the guide →Should a Dentist Lease or Buy the Office?
Owning your building can be a good investment and a poor fit at the same time. The right answer depends on your stage, your plans and what is available.
Read the guide →Compare and plan
The lease, the build-out and the rules
For practices evaluating space: lease terms, clinical build-outs and the compliance questions to raise.
The medical office lease
Tenant Improvement Allowances for Medical Space
An allowance sized for ordinary offices can run out long before the plumbing, power and shielding are finished.
Read the guide →Use Clauses and Exclusives in a Medical Lease
One clause limits what your practice may do in the space. The other limits who else the landlord may bring into the building.
Read the guide →Medical Office Lease Checklist
Standard landlord forms are written for ordinary offices. Use this list to find where yours does not fit a clinic.
Read the guide →Partner Changes and Guarantees in a Medical Lease
A practice's owners can change while its address stays the same. The lease should expect that.
Read the guide →Stark Law, Anti-Kickback and Your Medical Office Lease
When the landlord or subtenant can send you patients, or you can send them patients, the rent is a regulated number.
Read the guide →Subleasing and Sharing Medical Space
An empty exam room on Tuesday looks like easy income. Check two documents and one federal question before you offer it.
Read the guide →Build-out and compliance
ADA Requirements for Medical Offices
Accessibility in a clinic reaches past the front door to the exam room, the equipment and the wording of the lease.
Read the guide →HIPAA and Your Medical Office Layout
There is no HIPAA floor plan. There is a duty to use reasonable safeguards, and a layout can make that easier or harder.
Read the guide →Medical Office Build-Out: What to Plan For
The build-out decisions that matter most are made before the lease is signed, while you can still choose a different suite.
Read the guide →Choose and act
Making the move
Ready to act? Renewing or relocating, buying, moving a practice and choosing representation.
Making the move
How to Choose a Medical Office Broker
The broker on the listing works for the landlord. The first thing to settle is who is working for you.
Read the guide →Moving a Medical Practice: A Checklist
The movers are the easy part. The harder work is telling the right people on the right schedule, and state rules set part of that schedule.
Read the guide →Renew or Relocate Your Medical Practice?
Moving a clinic costs more than moving an office. That is a reason to test the market, not a reason to skip it.
Read the guide →Should a Medical Practice Buy Its Building?
Buying is a good fit when the location, the partners and the cash all point the same way for a long time. It is harder when any one of them does not.
Read the guide →Questions
About this resource center
Who is this resource center for?
Physicians, dentists, therapists, practice administrators and owners of medical and dental practices.
Where should I start?
If you are new to clinical space, begin with the basics. If you have a proposal or lease in hand, go to the lease terms guides.
Whom does Tenant Advisory Group represent?
The practice. TAG represents the tenant or buyer, not the landlord or seller.
Is this legal or tax advice?
No. Leases between healthcare providers and referral sources can raise regulatory questions, and the guides point those out so you can raise them with healthcare counsel, who should review any transaction.
Planning a move or a lease renewal for your practice?
Tell us about your practice and your timing. We represent medical, dental and therapy practices.