The lease is the deal.
More orthodontic practice sales fall apart over the lease than over price. Here's what a sellable lease looks like in this industry — and the assignability red flags that quietly kill a transaction.
What a sellable office lease looks like
Four things a buyer's lender will look for. Get these right before you list and the transition is dramatically smoother.
A term that outlives your loan
A 5–10 year initial term with two 5-year renewal options — so your SBA note is never longer than your right to occupy the open-bay clinic and consult rooms.
A clean, pre-approved assignment clause
Language that lets you transfer the lease to a qualified buyer without the landlord's 'unreasonable' withholding — the single most important line for a future orthodontic exit, where active patients are mid-treatment.
Buildout that protects the clinical infrastructure
Who owns the chairs, the plumbing and air/vacuum compressor lines feeding each chair, and the shielded pano/ceph imaging room — spelled out, not assumed, so a buyer inherits a working clinic.
Continuity for long treatment cycles
Ortho cases run 18–30 months, so patients must transfer to the buyer at the same address. A term and location a buyer can rely on keeps active contracts — and their revenue — intact through the sale.
Assignability red flags
Any one of these can turn a signed deal into a dead deal at closing. Find them before a buyer's attorney does.
Landlord consent 'at sole discretion'
If assignment requires consent the landlord can withhold for any reason, your practice is far harder to sell — a buyer inherits that risk, along with a chairful of patients mid-treatment.
Personal guaranty that survives the sale
A guaranty that follows you personally past closing can quietly become a deal-killer at the finish line.
A term shorter than the buyer's financing
Fewer years remaining than the buyer's loan term forces a renewal negotiation into the middle of the transaction — dangerous when patients are contracted through the treatment cycle.
Relocation or demolition clauses
Rights that let a landlord move or displace the office gut the value of a location active ortho patients are contractually tied to — and force a costly rebuild of the open bay, chair plumbing, and imaging room elsewhere.
Silent or restrictive satellite / multi-location terms
Many ortho practices run a hub plus satellite offices on separate leases. If those leases can't be assigned together — or bar the buyer from consolidating days across sites — the combined practice is far harder to sell as one.
Have a broker read your lease before you list
A 20-minute lease read is the cheapest insurance a seller can buy. The brokers in our network review orthodontic practice leases for assignability every week — before a listing ever goes out. Get matched to one who works your market.
Find a broker in the directoryLease guidance only. We don't publish valuations or pricing.