In the post-COVID world, retail leases will need to change and adapt. Several provisions will need to be changed and added to account for the possibility of a pandemic and the mandated shuttering of businesses. This includes adjustments to force majeure and insurance provisions as well as use of common areas, common area caps, alterations, and rules and regulations, all of which should be adjusted to reflect the new market.

"These modifications will likely put landlords in a better position to respond and react to the new normal that will exist until a vaccine is developed and widely distributed," Dan Villalpando, a partner at Cox, Castle & Nicholson, tells GlobeSt.com.

In regards to the common areas, most leases are currently too broad to account for usage and social distancing. This is one of the first areas that will need to be addressed in leases. "Landlords should make sure that the language in the Control of Common Area provision found in most leases is broad enough for landlords to respond and adapt to pandemics and similar emergencies, such as by installing items to improve health and safety conditions and making other, perhaps currently unforeseeable, changes to the common area to comply with recommendations or requirements of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, World Health Organization, or state or local authorities," says Villalpando.