Feature

Get 11 Lease Protections When Leasing Furnished Office Space

July 21, 2021    
During the pandemic, some of your tenants may have abandoned their office space to work from home, leaving the premises fully or partially furnished. Now that the leasing market is returning to something approaching normal, leasing these furnished offices may prove to be a windfall for your...
Related Tools: Address Special Legal Issues in Lease for Furnished Space
Negotiating Tips

Compromise on Tax Hikes Resulting from Sale of Property Early in Lease

July 21, 2021    
Any time a property is sold there’s the possibility that the sale will trigger a tax assessment. And that creates the risk of a major real estate tax increase. Who pays for that increase when and if it occurs? Obviously, tenants won’t want to. They try to exclude tax increases resulting...
Related Tools: Collect Percentage of Tax Increases After Sale that Occurs Early in Lease
Plugging Loopholes

Are Landlords Liable for Criminal Attacks on a Tenant’s Employees?

July 21, 2021    
One reason general liability insurance is so expensive is that landlords can be sued for money damages if an individual gets injured on their property. While there are lots of legal theories trial lawyers can rely on, the vast majority of personal injury cases against landlords involve one or more...
Owner Loses

Leasing Mall Space to Medical Clinic Violates Landlord’s Duty to Operate Retail Establishment

July 21, 2021    
What Happened: A shopping center lease gave a fabric and crafting suppliers tenant the right to pay a lower substitute rent if the landlord violated its obligation to run the center as a “first-class retail project.” The problem began when the landlord leased space in the center to an...
Owner Wins

Contractor's Lien Against Tenant Doesn't Reach Landlord

July 21, 2021    
What Happened: A restaurant tenant hired a contractor to install kitchen equipment in its leased space. The tenant paid only $60,000 of the contractor’s $274,000 bill. So, the contractor placed a lien on the space to secure the balance. And since the tenant had since been evicted, the...
Owner Wins

Court Nixes Tenant's $3M Racial Discrimination Case Against Landlord

July 21, 2021    
What Happened: For the first six months of the lease, an African-American owner of a day spa had a “great” and “courteous” relationship with her landlord. But then came the middle-of-the-night call the landlord received from the Sheriff’s Office notifying him of the...
Feature

Courts Take Dim View on Retailers' Right to Pandemic Rent Relief

June 17, 2021    
New York State has become something of a national laboratory of commercial leasing litigation testing the rights of retail and restaurant tenants that couldn’t meet their lease rental obligations due to COVID-19 shutdowns. A brand-new case brought by upscale retailer Hugo Boss is particularly...
Drafting Tips

Set 10 Limits When Letting Franchisor Assign and Sublet Without Consent

June 17, 2021    
Waiving consent rights doesn’t necessarily require ceding all control.   Leasing to franchise businesses can ensure a stream of large, financially stable, and nationally recognized tenants. But it also poses unique leasing challenges. To leverage the full strength of the franchise, you...
Related Tools: Limit Franchisor's Right to Assign or Sublet Without Your Consent
Plugging Loopholes

Keep Guarantors on the Hook for Attorney’s Fees

June 17, 2021    
Guaranty agreements may cap how much the guarantor has to pay if the tenant defaults. For example, the agreement may say that $100,000 is the most the landlord can collect from the guarantor. If you include dollar caps in your own lease guaranties, just be sure that they exclude attorney’s...
Owner Wins

Tenant Took Too Long to Exercise Purchase Option

June 17, 2021    
What Happened: After evicting a liquor store tenant, a landlord sued for immediate possession of the property. But the tenant didn’t want to leave and offered to buy the property, citing the following option in the lease: Tenant has option to purchase property at the end of first year lease...
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