In a triple net lease, the tenant pays for almost all property maintenance, and the landlord usually keeps responsibility only for the building’s structural components. That is the short answer to who pays for maintenance in a triple net lease: interior repairs, building systems, utilities, and a pro-rata share of common areas sit with the tenant, while the roof, foundation, load-bearing walls, and exterior shell stay with the landlord. The lease itself controls the exact split, and the gray zones between “routine maintenance” and “structural repair” are where most disputes start.
What the Tenant Pays For
The tenant’s maintenance obligations in a typical NNN lease cover the day-to-day upkeep of everything inside the leased space and most building systems that serve it. Interior repairs, plumbing and electrical fixtures, flooring, doors, windows, and general cleanliness are all on the tenant. A burst pipe under the sink or a shorted light fixture is a tenant bill.
Tenants also pay all utilities directly, including electricity, water, gas, and trash removal. Pest control, interior painting, and the general appearance of the unit are tenant responsibilities. Food service or chemical-related operations usually bring additional obligations around grease traps, exhaust systems, and waste disposal.
HVAC
Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning is one of the most expensive maintenance categories for NNN tenants. Most NNN leases require the tenant to maintain the HVAC system serving their space, and many go further by requiring a professional service contract throughout the lease term. That contract typically covers seasonal inspections, filter changes, refrigerant checks, and minor repairs.
Replacement is where the real money sits. Some leases make the tenant responsible for full HVAC replacement when the system reaches end of life, and an aging rooftop unit can cost $10,000 to $25,000 or more to replace. If the lease is silent on replacement, there is a reasonable argument that replacing a capital asset differs from maintaining one, but landlords push back on that reading. Settle it in writing before signing.
What the Landlord Still Covers
Even in a triple net lease, the landlord does not step away from the building. The landlord’s core obligation is maintaining the structural integrity of the property: the roof, foundation, load-bearing walls, and exterior shell. These are the bones of the building, and keeping them sound protects the landlord’s long-term investment.
The logic is straightforward. Structural failures affect every tenant in the building and often require engineering expertise and capital that no single tenant should bear. A foundation crack or a failing roof deck is not a maintenance item in the same way a leaky faucet is. Most standard NNN leases draw the line there, leaving structural work with the landlord while passing everything else to the tenant.
Landlords sometimes try to blur that line. A lease that defines “maintenance” broadly enough can sweep in roof repairs, parking lot resurfacing, or exterior wall work. Read the maintenance definitions carefully. The distinction between a “repair” (which may be yours) and a “structural replacement” (which should be the landlord’s) often turns on a single clause.
Common Area Maintenance in Multi-Tenant Buildings
In multi-tenant properties, maintenance arrives in a second form: common area maintenance (CAM) charges. These cover shared spaces everyone uses, including parking lots, sidewalks, landscaping, exterior lighting, elevators, lobbies, and shared restrooms. Tenants pay a pro-rata share, usually calculated based on the square footage they occupy relative to the total leasable area.
Most landlords estimate annual CAM costs at the start of the year and bill monthly against that budget. At year-end, the landlord reconciles the estimated payments against actual expenses. If the real costs came in higher, the tenant owes the difference. If they came in lower, the tenant should receive a credit, though some leases require you to request it. A landlord who underestimates the budget collects modest monthly payments all year, then sends a lump-sum reconciliation bill in January that can run into the thousands.
Two provisions protect you against runaway CAM charges. An audit right lets you or your accountant review the books and invoices behind the reconciliation; without it, you are trusting the landlord’s math with no way to verify it. A CAM cap limits how much your charges can rise year over year, typically in the 3% to 5% range. Compounded (non-cumulative) caps block the landlord from carrying unused increases into later years; cumulative caps let the landlord bank unused increases from low-cost years and apply them later. Property taxes, insurance, and utilities are often classified as “uncontrollable” expenses and excluded from the cap entirely, since the landlord cannot negotiate the tax assessor’s bill.
Capital Expenditures: The Expensive Gray Area
Capital expenditures are the single biggest source of financial surprise for NNN tenants. A capital expenditure replaces or substantially improves a building asset rather than simply maintaining it: a new roof, parking lot repaving, elevator modernization, or a full HVAC swap. These costs can run into six figures, and who pays depends entirely on how your lease treats them.
In a well-negotiated standard NNN lease, major capital improvements stay with the landlord. But many leases let landlords pass capital costs through to tenants by amortizing them over the asset’s useful life and billing a proportionate annual share. A $200,000 roof amortized over 15 years can add more than $13,000 to your annual operating expenses, often with interest tacked on.
If your lease permits pass-throughs, several points are worth negotiating:
- Amortization period tied to the asset’s actual useful life, often 12 to 20 years, rather than a shorter period that inflates the annual share.
- Interest rate tied to the landlord’s actual borrowing cost rather than an arbitrary markup. Rates of 10% or higher show up in leases more often than they should.
- Timing limitation that restricts pass-throughs to capital work performed after your lease begins. Some landlords try to pass through costs from improvements made years before your tenancy.
- Category exclusions for improvements that primarily benefit the landlord’s long-term asset value, such as modernizing elevators or adding a new wing.
Standard NNN vs. Absolute NNN
Not all triple net leases divide maintenance the same way. In a standard NNN lease, the landlord keeps responsibility for structural repairs. In an absolute net lease, sometimes called a bondable lease, the tenant takes on everything with no exceptions: roof replacement, foundation work, and rebuilding after a casualty event. The tenant is essentially treated as if they own the building for the term.
Absolute NNN leases are most common with investment-grade tenants like national pharmacy chains, fast-food franchises, and dollar stores, where the lease functions as a financing vehicle. If a landlord presents an absolute NNN lease to a smaller tenant, the financial exposure goes well beyond the typical arrangement, and the rent discount should be significant to justify that risk. If your lease is absolute, the earlier answer flips: structural work is yours too.
Environmental and ADA Obligations
Two liabilities sit next to maintenance but behave differently, and standard “maintenance” language rarely captures them cleanly.
Under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, both owners and operators of a property where hazardous substances are released can be held responsible for all investigation and remediation costs, regardless of who caused the contamination.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 42 – Section 9607 A commercial tenant operating on contaminated property can qualify as an “operator.” Before signing a NNN lease, particularly for former gas stations, dry cleaners, manufacturing sites, or auto repair shops, consider requesting a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment. Performing “all appropriate inquiries” under CERCLA can establish liability protections against pre-existing contamination, and an environmental indemnification clause in the lease adds a second layer.
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires places of public accommodation to remove access barriers when doing so is “readily achievable.” Both landlords and tenants can be held liable by a disabled visitor regardless of what the lease says between them. The lease can shift the cost of ADA improvements as a contractual matter, but it cannot release either party from liability to third parties. Unless a tenant expressly agreed in writing to make specific structural accessibility renovations, standard NNN “maintenance” language is unlikely to transfer the landlord’s obligation to make significant access improvements. If your lease does assign ADA compliance to you, that obligation can be open-ended, since the standard turns on the total financial resources of both the landlord and the tenant.
When the Landlord Fails to Maintain Its Share
If the landlord neglects a structural repair, such as a leaking roof damaging your inventory, your options depend on state commercial lease law and the lease itself. Commercial tenants generally have fewer statutory protections than residential tenants. Most states do not give commercial tenants an automatic right to withhold rent or to repair-and-deduct without explicit lease language authorizing it.
Some leases include a self-help provision allowing the tenant to make emergency repairs and deduct the cost from rent after written notice and a cure period. If the lease is silent, the primary remedies are demanding performance in writing, pursuing mediation or arbitration where the lease requires it, or filing a breach of contract lawsuit. Document everything: photographs, written maintenance requests, and the landlord’s responses. A pattern of ignored requests strengthens any later legal claim.