Owner Wins
September 23, 2022
What Happened: In May 2020, with the pandemic in full rage, New York City adopted a law banning commercial landlords from harassing tenants. A bridal shop tenant invoked the law after the landlord sued it and its guarantor for unpaid rent and additional rent for real estate tax and utilities cost...
Feature
August 29, 2022
Pet rules in a commercial lease? At first, I thought this was a terrible idea for an article. After all, the vast majority of commercial landlords in the U.S. don’t permit pets on the property—to the extent they even consider the issue at all. And it was for that very reason that I came...
Drafting Tips
August 29, 2022
Percentage rent is typically based on the gross sales generated from the leased space rather than a tenant’s gross sales. So, an assignment or sublet by a tenant with strong sales to a business with weaker sales could take a significant bite out of percentage rent. You could even end up...
Plugging Loopholes
August 29, 2022
In many states, the lease guaranty ends when the underlying lease ends. So, unless there’s language to the contrary, the guarantor is off the hook if the tenant holds over after the end of the term or renews the lease. That leaves you holding the bag for any tenant defaults that occur during...
Owner Loses
August 29, 2022
What Happened: A shopping center tenant exercised its supposed right to pay reduced rent under a co-tenancy clause that kicked in when either: (1) the center lacked either three anchor tenants; or (2) 60 percent of the space wasn’t leased. While acknowledging that a trigger condition had...
