Estoppel certificate

Definition

A counterparty's signed confirmation of what a lease currently says.

Why It Matters

It locks down what the lease actually says at the moment you take over, so you inherit the real terms rather than the seller's summary of them. Ask for one on every lease and on any contract large enough to matter, because a landlord who signs it cannot later claim rent arrears or an unrecorded side agreement you knew nothing about. What comes back is also information in itself: a counterparty who will not sign one is telling you where to look next.

In numbers: The landlord's estoppel confirms the lease runs four more years at $6,500 a month with no defaults; without it, the seller's word about the site's biggest fixed cost is all a lender has.