What is the legal effect of an incorrect address in the master lease?

A lease between a commercial landlord and tenant contains standard elements that include rent, other expenses, specifications of the leased premises and the duration of the lease. Most leases contain standard "boiler-plate" language that stipulates the rights and obligations of both parties during the tenancy. Some of the fundamental terms contained in most any commercial lease are:

Rent

Rent is the base as well as any additional rent in a pass-through. A pass-through is often exercised when the landlord's expenses go up. You may negotiate this term out of the agreement if you do not want unexpected increases tagged on to your base rent.

Full Service/Triple Net Rent

Commercial leases typically provide who will be responsible for certain operating expenses. In a Full Service lease, the landlord agrees to cover expenses such as taxes, insurance and utilities usually only for the first year. In a Triple Net lease, the tenant is responsible for paying landlord its allocable share of all operating expenses. Single tenants of an entire building are more likely to have a Triple Net lease.

Premises

Premises mean the exact location of your rental space as well as the area being leased. The Rentable Square Feet (RSF), on which the rent is based, is larger than Usable Square Feet (USF) which is the actual space you will have available for your operations and nets out spaces such as stairwells, elevator banks, bulkheads and columns. Although you are paying for all, your usable space excludes these latter.

Terms

The lease term is simply the duration of the lease as well as any renewal right. It is advisable for those just starting out to seek a shorter term (approximately 3 years) with renewal rights.

To answer your question "Is a tenant lease invalid if it has the wrong address on it?" note that your lease is a contract governed by contract law. Contact law generally provides that if a contract contains a minor error that does not materially affect the parties' responsibilities and rights, the error does not automatically void the contract. In your case, even though the address on the master lease is incorrect, both you and your landlord have shown that you know where the premises subject to the contract are located. The lease should simply be amended to reflect the actual address.

Talk with an experienced attorney to further discuss this issue.