DON’T: Assume you are off the hook once you assign your lease. That is not the way it works unless your lease already says you are off the hook upon assignment. Most leases are silent.

DON’T: Assume that you are getting options to extend or purchase or rights of first refusal when you assume a lease. Unless they are specifically assigned in addition to assignment of the lease, you are not.

With a longstanding legal career focused on the automotive industry, Partner Erin K. Tenner has built a reputation as the go-to advisor for auto dealership sales and acquisitions since 1986. Super Lawyers Magazine spoke with Erin to discuss how she got her start in the industry, how her practice has evolved through the years and her approach to getting deals done.

“It’s so much fun working with auto dealers,” Erin said. “They are a very gregarious bunch for the most part, great characters.”

Erin shared a story about a client who was assigning his lease, but was reluctant to ask for too much. “I suggested to him that he should ask the factory, from whom he was leasing the property, for a novation” – an agreement that the seller would no longer be liable on the lease once it was assigned to someone else. Despite protests from the broker, Erin called the factory, had the novation in hand within an hour and closed escrow that day. That one decision saved the client millions.

“For some reason brokers and dealers think these transactions are very fragile and easily blow up. That has not been my experience,” she explained.