Can I assign just part of my leased space if I'm only selling part of the business?

Generally only if your lease permits it, and many commercial leases don't address partial assignment at all, or restrict assignment to the whole leased premises rather than a portion of it. A lease is typically drafted as a single, indivisible arrangement covering defined premises, and splitting off part of the space for a buyer while you keep operating from the rest can require the landlord's active involvement well beyond an ordinary consent — sometimes amounting to a lease amendment, a partial surrender, or even a new lease for the carved-out portion.

Landlords are often cautious about this kind of split, since it can complicate their management of the property — shared common areas, utilities, signage, and liability for the divided space all raise questions an ordinary assignment doesn't. Getting agreement to a physical division of the premises is usually a more involved negotiation than assigning the whole lease to one buyer.

Before structuring a sale around only part of your leased space, raise this with your landlord early, since it may take considerably more than a standard assignment request to accomplish. A Treadstone business lawyer can help assess whether your lease allows it and negotiate the mechanics if it doesn't.