A first-person Washington, DC guide to commercial property due diligence: negotiating the purchase agreement and study period, reading the title commitment and exception documents, liens that can be recorded after closing, unpaid taxes and the vacant and blighted tax classes, survey and encroachments, zoning and the certificate of occupancy, historic review, the leases you inherit, estoppel certificates, TOPA in mixed-use buildings, the 180-day environmental rule, Building Energy Performance Standards, and the economic interest transfer tax on entity deals.
