Glossary

Rent Commencement Date

Also known as: rent start date

The date on which a tenant's obligation to pay base rent begins, which may be delayed after the lease commencement date to account for build-out time or negotiated free rent.

Rent commencement is frequently tied to a triggering event — substantial completion of landlord's or tenant's work, issuance of a certificate of occupancy, or the tenant's opening for business — rather than a fixed calendar date, since construction timelines carry inherent uncertainty. Landlords track this date closely because it marks the start of the actual rent stream feeding NOI and lender reporting, and leases typically specify an outside date beyond which the landlord owes a remedy, such as additional free rent or a tenant termination right, if the triggering event has not occurred. The gap between lease commencement and rent commencement is a key input to effective rent calculations.