ForumsStarting a Business

Did you get my reply?

You can certainly switch your business to a Corporation or LLC anytime you wish. However, that won't change the terms of the lease you entered into as an individual. You could ask if your landlord is willing to rewrite the lease, in effect cancelling the lease with you as an individual and replacing it with a new one between the landlord and your corporation, but that would be up to the landlord. I suspect he or she would be reluctant to do so, precisely for the reasons that you might find it attractive--the ability for the new entity to default on the lease without the landlord having recourse against you personally. Unless the new corporation has sufficient assets and credit history to reassure the landlord, I suspect the landlord would be reluctant to accomodate you. If your positions were reversed, I think you might feel the same.

Even on renewal, the landlord may well be reluctant to enter into a contract with your new corporation without receiving some kind of personal guarantee. Again, you might well feel the same were you in the landlord's position.