Feature

Require Tenants to Promptly Sign Lease Amendments Demanded by Lenders

June 25, 2024    
Don’t let a tenant’s foot-dragging cost you a loan.    
Related Tools: Require Tenant to Sign Lender-Requested Lease Amendments
Drafting Tips

Give Tenants Force Majeure Relief But Make 3 Key Exceptions

June 25, 2024    
Post-pandemic, tenants are seeking to expand the scope of the force majeure clause.     The so-called force majeure clause excusing a party to a lease from performing its duties if a catastrophic event beyond its control happens has long been a staple of commercial leases. But until...
Related Tools: Make Exceptions to Tenant's Force Majeure Relief
Negotiating Tips

How to Compromise on Permitting Non-Retail Uses in Shopping Center

June 25, 2024    
Consider four forms of compromise.     For anchors and retail tenants with bargaining clout, the name of the game is drawing as many shoppers to the shopping center as possible. So, they’re apt to insist that the landlord refrain from renting to offices, educational facilities, and...
Related Tools: Get Tenants to Compromise on Office Uses in Shopping Center
Owner Wins

State COVID-19 Shutdown Orders Didn’t Violate Tenant’s “Quiet Enjoyment” Rights

June 25, 2024    
What Happened: Courts around the country continue to rule against tenants seeking to use the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse for not paying rent. One of the more creative cases involves a fitness center tenant that had to close from March through September 2020 due to shutdown orders. The tenant...
Owner Wins

Tenant that Terminates Lease Early Must Repay Improvement Costs

June 25, 2024    
What Happened: A lease required a medical tenant to reimburse the landlord for the costs of improvement made to the space if it terminated early. The tenant did terminate early, and the landlord billed it for $108,000 in improvement costs. The tenant refused to pay, contending that the landlord...
Owner Loses

Subsequent Lease Amendments Nullify Ambiguous Guaranty

June 25, 2024    
What Happened: In 1993, a tenant signed a lease to operate a tanning salon at a strip mall. The agreement included a third-party guaranty. The lease was amended in 1994 and again in 1996. In each case, the guarantors signed the amendments. In 1999, the sides executed a third amendment making...
Feature

Make 15 Lease Revisions When Tenant Is a Legal Marijuana Business

May 28, 2024    
Both cultivators and retailers pose unique challenges.    
Related Tools: Revise Standard Lease Form When Leasing to a Legal Marijuana Business
Dos & Don'ts

Don't Leave Blanks in Printed Lease Forms

May 28, 2024    
If you use a standard lease form that includes blanks for listing appropriate information, don’t leave any of the blanks empty. If you do and end up in a dispute with a tenant, you open the door to the court’s interpreting the meaning of the blank space using “parol” or...
Dos & Don'ts

Send Required Notices Even If Tenant Already Has the Information

May 28, 2024    
It’s important to send tenants and other parties all notices the lease requires you to provide even if you think they already know the information the notice contains. Your supposition about the tenant’s knowledge may be 100 percent correct. But even if the required notification would...
Owner Wins

OK for Landlord to Lock Out Smoke Shop Tenant for Selling Prohibited Products

May 28, 2024    
What Happened: A shopping center lease allowed the tenant to use the premises “solely for a tobacco, cigar, and vape store,” and “for no other purpose unless approved in writing by” the landlord.
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