Feature
August 27, 2024
Offering any tenant rent relief is inherently risky.
Like so many landlords these days, you may be considering restructuring your lease to aid a percentage rent tenant that’s struggling to stay afloat. While avoiding a vacancy by helping the tenant stay in business is clearly in...
Traps to Avoid
August 27, 2024
It’s neither contradictory nor uncommon to lease space to a tenant in “as-is” condition while also promising to maintain some or all of that space, such as the roof or parking lot, until the transfer is complete. You just need to be careful about how you word the obligation.
Owner Loses
August 27, 2024
What Happened: A high-end restaurant operator leased property on Holyoke Street in Harvard Square knowing that the university/landlord was planning to undertake a major, four-year construction project spanning an entire city block across the street. The blasting work began two months later. A few...
Owner Loses
August 27, 2024
What Happened: A landlord took a cosmetology school tenant and its guarantors to court for failing to pay rent in 2020 while government COVID-19 shutdown orders were in effect. The defendants raised the usual affirmative defenses including force majeure and frustration of purpose. And, as usual,...
Owner Wins
August 27, 2024
What Happened: A medical tenant decided to remain in possession and continue paying rent after its lease expired. A few months later, Hurricane Irene blew through town and inflicted major damage, forcing the tenant to move out. The tenant sued to recover its security deposit; the landlord...
