Can I steal retail tenants from other landlords? Any rules against this?
I will keep this very short and simple.

We own a retail shopping center. 5 out of 7 units are vacant. Fully paid off so no one is really worried or stressing. 

Can I go to shops in other retail centers near me (thinking mom and pop stores) and give typed letters to owners of restaurants/ shops informing them that I will give them 6 mos of free rent + charge 20% less than their current rate if they relocate to my shopping center after their lease ends/ they break their lease? 

I just want tenants in my building to keep the building alive and well. The longer it sits vacant the more it will go unchecked and into disrepair. Rather have something coming in than nothing. 

Location is very small town in Midwest with around 10,000 population and avg household income of $50-60k. 

I just don’t know if this is allowed or if I’m making myself liable to something like trespassing or some other weird charge for trying to steal tenants. 

If any of you have any insight/ experience with something like this I’d love to hear what you have to say!

Edit: If you have any other creative ideas to attract tenants I would love to hear that too! What resource works best for you!?
[{"id": "gxcpche", "text": "Nothing wrong with that. If their contract is expiring and they want to take the hassle to move, it is fair game.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "gxcpt7s", "text": "100% that\u2019s what retail leasing is built on", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "gxcq8ss", "text": "I did exactly that as a day job. Aggressively leased my companies retail centers. Completely fine. Go get a nail salon they want to be in every center.\n\nNote: retail is hard to move. Their clients all know where they are and they don\u2019t want to confuse their clients. Restaurants you usually pitch the \u201csecond location\u201d massage, karate, nail salon, all easy grabs. \n\nTenant improvement allowance is going to be big. Yeah yeah they get free rent but they expect that anyways. \n\nAlso, don\u2019t get cheap. Pay brokers. I had a group do exactly what you\u2019re doing and when they contacted my client they tried to push me out. My client was a pushover and ditched me after 9 months of great work. He really liked their center so he didn\u2019t want to risk angering the landlord. \n\nSo naturally I told the entire brokerage community at every shop not to do business with that center. Bring them no one. Cant afford to pay 4%? It\u2019s the cheapest part of the deal.", "replies": [{"id": "gxcwlr2", "text": "Only 4% fee? We are 6%.", "replies": [{"id": "gxehgqb", "text": "4% for tenant rep and 2% for landlord rep", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "gxd9uyo", "text": "Thank you. \n\nThe idea of pitching a second location is brilliant. Instead of trying to steal tenants I could just convince tenants of neighboring towns to expand (although I doubt many will jump at the opportunity in the current climate unless I really sweeten the deal for them). \n\nNonetheless a great idea I hadn\u2019t thought of before \n\nThere used to be a nail salon in one of the shops (2,000 sq ft) but they went bankrupt. \n\nI doubt national chains would want to come to such a small town. Idk how you would find people that want to start their own salon. I was thinking of posting in the town\u2019s Facebook page but the twin doesn\u2019t even have one \ud83e\udd26\u200d\u2642\ufe0f \n\nI think a vape store would do fantastic in this location tho. I\u2019ll try reaching out to nearby shops to see if they want to expand. \n\nThank you for the idea! This is exactly what I was looking for! \ud83d\ude4f\n\nEdit: Also my father has already hired a commercial real estate agent and he has done nothing besides list it online on sites like loopnet and sit back. I guess I might have to look into brokers if I\u2019m not able to find some tenants myself", "replies": [{"id": "gxdpwdu", "text": "Take it one step further and become a broker.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}, {"id": "gxe0xuq", "text": "How about contacting business brokers to let them know of your space.  They may have clients that are looking at franchises or buying existing businesses, but still looking for space to set up?  \n\nI don't mean in terms of hiring them specifically to work for you, but to guide their consumer clients to you.", "replies": [{"id": "gxe3bd9", "text": "Very smart idea. Never thought of this before either. Will definitely be contacting them about this. \n\nThank you so much!", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}, {"id": "gxetkzl", "text": "I don\u2019t know much about your town or area but also ask yourself what kind of center do you want to be? Vape stores aren\u2019t really classy or family friendly. Good tenants want to be by businesses that will help their businesses. So if you want a day care or family boutique, they probably won\u2019t want the people a vape store brings in.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "gxdsl4p", "text": "Your telling me I could put a \u201cdojo\u201d there? What sign me up.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "gxcqf10", "text": "We used to call it stacking at an old shop I worked at.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "gxcqwty", "text": "You can totally do this, though would strongly advise against encouraging someone to break a lease. Not a great benefit to you to spend a bunch on a new tenant who has the liability of a lawsuit chasing after them.", "replies": [{"id": "gxcsnlk", "text": "It's not a great benefit to fill your units with tenants willing to break their leases at the first sign of a better deal either.", "replies": [{"id": "gxd9zbw", "text": "Good point", "replies": [], "depth": 3}, {"id": "gxdf8tg", "text": "oh please, any rational business owner should be willing to break his lease if it makes financial sense factoring in any liabilities from the early termination.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "gxcv1pf", "text": "Plus, it\u2019s tortious interference to encourage one party to break a contract with another.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "gxd2fff", "text": "I would love to be in the *commercial real estate* market and I definitely see the attraction/excitement of the retail space.  \n\n\nWhat hits me first for gaining new tenants within your qualifications:  \nWhat are the prospects' *pain points*?  \n\n\nI would guess: rent/management company/location/physical aspects of their building/general sentiments?  \n\n\nTry to lay the easiest path to fixing their problems.  \n\n\nSuch problems and solutions that shortly (novel-like and poorly communicated) might be:  \n\"X wants lower rent but hassle to move all of inventory/hard assets\" = \"I will load all of your stuff and unload it exactly how you want in under 24 hours\"  \n\"X can't afford marketing material for a new location's awareness\" = \"I will begin sending mailers, +$/month in online marketing (add a few new outlets -say FB or Clist or whatever they're not in), pay for a coupon blast entirely, streamers wacky waving inflatable arm man... the day we sign -but don't have to actually move for x/month's.\"  \n\"X is sour over their current manager\" = \"Offer the newest/easiest/best way to contact manager. More coverage stated on the contract. A *working* manager.\"  \n\"neighboring tenants give X a bad taste\" = \"Offer more favorable neighbors. Show them the gain in *class* their brand would have by being associated with the types of tenants you're targeting.\"  \n\n\nI don't know. But, a random creative/fun idea (for a physical/graphical teaser) would be a Word Cloud styled logo collage of quality brands (prospective tenants would love to be **associated with**). Then copy/paste their logo among the Word Cloud styledlogocollage.jpg. Maybe go cheesy and write: \"**Is This You**?\" at the top.   \n\n\nGood luck! Would love to hear any follow-ups! *^(I hope the local mafia guy doesn't break your knees.)*", "replies": [{"id": "gxdaejq", "text": "The building is actually beautiful. Not falling apart or \u201crustic\u201d or any of that nonsense. \n\nIt\u2019s freshly painted with a fresh roof. Clean. The pavement has a few potholes from just sitting there but that\u2019s why I want to get this rented out. Just use some of that money to keep it maintained and prevent it from falling apart. Crime is also super low. Less than 10 reported crimes per year in the area!!\n\nThe main pain point is location. Under 10,000 population town with 50% of employees in the town being factory workers. It\u2019s a very small blue collar town. Not high speed/ action packed like many tenants want. \n\nPersonally my family started in towns like this to get our footing and it\u2019s a great location. This is exactly what we used to target when we were looking to open new shops. There are only 3 plazas in town. You can basically monopolize the local market. \n\nUnfortunately most people would rather live in more populated cities than take the chance on a more rural property like this from my experience. \n\nAnd yes the good neighboring brands is a big one. I already have a triple net lease for 15 more years with a SP500 company. Trying to get 1 or 2 more to really make it stand out and give off a secure feeling for smaller mom n pop stores. \n\nYour suggestion of offering to help move and stuff is a new one to me. Will definitely keep this in mind and offer it if wanted when negotiating. I got nothing but time this summer and want this place fully occupied no matter what I have to do!", "replies": [{"id": "gxdyah2", "text": "&gt;The pavement has a few potholes \n\nThat's the first thing prospective tenants see.\n\nA bag of cold asphalt patch can be had at Home Depot for under 30 bucks.  Seal coat can be had for less than 30 bucks for 5 gallons.  All the tools, under 100 bucks.\n\nThat's cheap medicine for something that will raise the visibility of your asset by 10 times.", "replies": [{"id": "gxe3fn1", "text": "You\u2019re right. \n\nI did exactly what you described about 2 years ago but now there\u2019s new ones. \n\nWill address the potholes ASAP", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}, {"id": "gxe3x0x", "text": "Would it be **feasible** to make a business that is exactly what you have in mind and put it there; could you copy your ideal tenant's business model and open up shop? Have it operate at break-even until you found someone who wants to take/expand into your location? Seen that done a ton of times and when they changed name from generic to name things seemed to go well? But that might be off the rail...  \n\n\nI would be selling the idea that manufacturing is \"coming back to America\" as hard as I could without getting laughed at. Push the speculative aspect of the town hard. I mean the whole world is very speculative right now -as is. Thank you for your time!!", "replies": [{"id": "gxe4f77", "text": "I honestly thought about doing that. Especially with the vape/ tobacco shop. That thing would be an instant gold mine in my location. \n\nProblem is property is over an hour away and we have our hands full with other things as well. \n\nOnce we get more free we might very well just open our own shop in the plaza and then sell off the business for a massive pay day while continuing to collect rent. \n\nWe\u2019ve done it before. Not too hard to pull off if location is right for the type of business", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "gxd4l0x", "text": "I mean, you can market your space to local businesses, there isn't anything wrong with that. You can ask them their current rents and square footage too, but I mean, I don't think it's how things normally go.\n\nWhen you are facing a renewal, how many months ahead are you discussing with the tenants. Are you keeping tabs on them throughout? Are they happy, or were to to their businesses failing? Why did they leave?\n\nFor prospective tenants traditionally businesses want renewal rights, maybe multiple. ie tenure on the space. They also want shorter terms so they can 'get out' if things sour for them.\n\nCheaper rents are great, but you aren't in business to see rent reductions. Be careful.. others are offering tenant improvement allowances, or x number of months of free rent, or both as an inducement to get the tenant in place.\n\nWhat about your shopping centre. Do customers feel safe? Is it clean and maintained? Is the mix attractive to customers and tenants? It's there enough parking? \n\nIs there to much commercial space available in your market? If so, price decreases might make sense, but prices are sticky so if offer some inducement.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "gxd86xm", "text": "Dog eat dog, yo.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "gxdhho6", "text": "Sounds like a good hustle.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "gxdsqix", "text": "You asked for other advice as well. Although cold calling can work, we get most of our tenants by them seeing our \u201cFor Lease\u201d banners over the spaces and calling us. If you don\u2019t have Banners on each of the spaces or at least a big sign in the window that says For Lease and your phone number, start there. After that, the second biggest way we get new tenants is through marketing your space in Loopnet and Crexi. Crexi is free. Loopnet costs a few hundred bucks a year for a basic plan (it\u2019s worth it). Be sure to take some good photos and \u201cenhance\u201d them on a photo app to make them stand out. Sounds cheesy but it works. Also, it is good to have a basic leasing flyer. Look on Loopnet and Crexi at other similar spaces in your market to see what they put in their leasing flyers. It isn\u2019t too hard to make a flyer in Microsoft PowerPoint. You can download high quality aerials for free off Google Earth Pro. Copy and paste logos of neighboring businesses of google images, find out traffic counts on your state\u2019s DOT website. If you aren\u2019t computer savvy, find a high school age relative to help you. It\u2019s nice to be able to drop off a flyer when you cold call, but not essential.", "replies": [{"id": "gxe4030", "text": "Yeah I\u2019ve been thinking about buying some professional signage. \n\nRight now there\u2019s just tiny for lease signs in the windows... cant even seem them from the street really since the parking lot is so big. \n\nWe also decorated all the windows in washable colors kind of like a used car salesmen writes on windshields and it helps. \n\nI\u2019ll definitely look into both large banners to hang up on the front of the building as well as a proper in ground sign near the street! \n\nI didn\u2019t know about Google Earth Pro! I\u2019ll have to check it out. Thank you!", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "gxe2gje", "text": "You have just described real estate brokerage... yes you can do this yourself, I\u2019m not sure why you wouldn\u2019t hire a retail broker. If you are concerned about commission, they can structure the deal so that the deposit covers their commission a d the rent is high enough that you will be able to replenish the deposit amount by the end of the term. In the even of default the tenant forfeits the deposit, so win win. A good broker will already have a list of tenants in the market and will know how to qualify them.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "gxecdq9", "text": "I had a lady flag down one of my clients, to tell them it was cheaper to buy her place!! Nothing I can do!", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "gxfp2vj", "text": "In this day in age you can print a flyer but Id much rather suggest you reach out to said businesses and get their decision maker. Start a warm convo and feel them out. You never should come across as desperate. \n\nAlso need to be prepared to put up cash to help turn key the units for them. Some users cost well more than others depending on the nature of their business.\n\nThat being said, working with a proper manager and CRE Broker to works best. Ones tied to larger shops as well as smaller ones that may have a large local footprint. At the end of the day sure tenants keep the building alive, it's your job as a landlord to keep the building well..", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]