Before leasing land, it is important for developers to understand the benefits of using a lease-option structure instead of jumping straight into a leasehold. By deliberately separating and sequencing the grant of rights from a landowner to a developer, parties can better manage potential reporting obligations under the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA) and environmental liability under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA).

As Criglow and Criswell explain, lease options can be valuable to a developer’s toolkit—read the full article here.