Renewal Guarantee Check · free
How much could your personal guarantee cost you?
A personal guarantee means that if your business can't pay its rent, the landlord can ask you to pay it yourself. Enter your lease figures to estimate how much you could be on the hook for, and how much a limit on your guarantee would lower it.
For example: you have 3 years left at $5,000 a month and you've guaranteed the full lease. If your business closed today, up to $180,000 of rent could fall on you personally.
Your estimated personal guarantee exposure
$358,693
If your business stopped paying rent today, you could be personally responsible for up to about $358,693, based on the remaining rent and the limits entered. What you would actually owe depends on the wording of your lease and guarantee, and on what happens after a default.
How we calculated this estimate
The rent left on the lease, period by period, counted from this month with each increase 12 months apart. Each line is months × (base rent + additional rent).
- Months 1 to 1212 × ($4,500 + $1,200) = $68,400
- Months 13 to 2412 × ($4,635 + $1,200) = $70,020
- Months 25 to 3612 × ($4,774.05 + $1,200) = $71,688.60
- Months 37 to 4812 × ($4,917.27 + $1,200) = $73,407.24
- Months 49 to 6012 × ($5,064.79 + $1,200) = $75,177.48
- Total before any limit$358,693.32
What a different guarantee would change
The same lease, with limits tenants often ask for.
| Guarantee | Estimated exposure | Reduction |
|---|---|---|
| The whole lease (yours) | $358,693 | None |
| Capped at 12 months of rent | $68,400 | $290,293 |
| Capped at 6 months of rent | $34,200 | $324,493 |
| Capped at $50,000 | $50,000 | $308,693 |
| Ends after 24 more monthsToday: same as the whole lease. Once it ends: $0. | $358,693 | None |
Every figure here is what you could owe if the business stopped paying rent today. A guarantee that ends later still covers everything until it ends, so its figure today is the same as the whole lease. The chart below shows it dropping to $0 when it ends.
How your exposure changes over the lease
With no limit, your exposure is highest now and shrinks as each month of rent is paid.
What this estimate leaves out
- It could be lower if the landlord rents the space to someone else quickly, or if you settle.
- It could be higher if your guarantee also covers HST, interest or the landlord's legal costs.
- Some guarantees cover only the original lease term. Others carry over into renewals.
- This calculator uses only the figures shown. It doesn't read your guarantee's wording.
What does your guarantee actually say?
Renewal Option reviews your commercial lease, including the guarantee, and shows you what's worth negotiating in terms that are easy to understand.
Find out what your lease says about your guarantee