Many landlords are updating property health and safety requirements to comply with new local and state regulations. In most cases, interior property alterations will be the tenant's responsibility, but some leases require that costs be split between the landlord and the tenant. When adding new requirements to the lease, Dan Villalpando, a partner at Cox, Castle & Nicholson LLP, says that landlords should be clear who is responsible.

"While some leases provide that any alterations made in the premises are the tenant's responsibility, others split the responsibility between the parties based on the nature of the alteration, whether it is required by law and whether it applies just to the tenant's space or to retail spaces in general," says Villalpando. "In light of the general uncertainty following COVID-19, landlords should make sure that their leases require tenants to make at the tenants' expense any and all alterations required by law, including those borne out of force majeure events."

This includes exterior changes to accommodate social distancing that might fall into a common area space, which can be a gray area. "From a landlord's perspective, the cost of any barriers within the premises required to force customers to social distance or to further separate customers from employees should be the responsibility of the tenant," says Villalpando. "If such barriers are structural in nature, a landlord will also want approval rights over the location of, and materials used for, such barriers."