What happens to my lease's exclusivity clause protecting me from competitors when I sell the business?

An exclusivity clause — a lease term preventing the landlord from leasing other space in the same plaza or building to a competing business — is a right that belongs to the tenant under the lease, and it generally continues to protect whoever holds that tenant position after a proper assignment, the same way any other lease term carries forward. Your buyer inherits the benefit of it along with everything else in the lease, without needing to renegotiate it separately.

The value of this protection to your buyer depends heavily on how the clause is actually worded — how narrowly or broadly "competing business" is defined, whether it covers the whole plaza or only nearby units, and what remedy is available if the landlord breaches it. A poorly drafted exclusivity clause can look protective on paper while offering little real protection in practice.

Because this clause can meaningfully affect what your buyer is paying for, make sure it's specifically reviewed and explained during due diligence rather than assumed to simply "come with" the lease. A Treadstone business lawyer can assess how strong the protection actually is.