Feature

Get 5 Lease Protections When Listing Tenant's Name in Exterior Signs

December 22, 2021    
The size, look, style, and content of the exterior signs listing a building’s name and tenants can have a significant impact on not only a property’s marketability and curb appeal but also on the landlord’s image and reputation. That’s why landlords should seek to negotiate...
Related Tools: Get the Right Lease Protections When Listing Tenant's Name in Exterior Signage
Plugging Loopholes

Get Proof of Partnership/Corporation's Authority to Sign Lease

December 22, 2021    
Before signing a lease with a partnership or corporation, get proof that the business is a valid legal entity and that it’s taken the necessary partnership or corporate action to allow it to enter the lease. Otherwise, you may have a hard time enforcing the lease. The risk: If the partnership...
Owner Wins

Tenant’s Duty to Pay Extra Rent for Opening Competing Business Covers Future Affiliates

December 22, 2021    
What Happened: A lease required restaurant corporation tenant Crab House Ltd. to pay additional rent if it or any “affiliated company” were to open a competing business within a five-mile radius. A couple of years later, Crab House was acquired by Landry’s Seafood Restaurants....
Owner Wins

Tenant Can't Renew by Conduct When Lease Requires Renewal by Written Notice

December 22, 2021    
What Happened: A lease provided that it would expire in July 2016 unless the tenant exercised its renewal option. The tenant acknowledged that it never provided the required written notice but contended that it renewed via its conduct, noting that the landlord accepted its monthly rent without...
Feature

Get 6 Lease Protections When Giving Tenants Expansion Options

November 23, 2021    
In this era of post-COVID-19 uncertainty, commercial tenants are increasingly reluctant to lock themselves into spaces of fixed dimensions over the entire lease term. Their driving imperative is flexibility. In the early days of the pandemic, as telecommuting shrank the need for space, flexibility...
Related Tools: Let Tenants Expand Leased Space in a Way that Protects Your Interests
Traps to Avoid

'Prevailing Party' Attorneys' Fees Clauses Don't Work for Mixed Ruling Cases

November 23, 2021    
Litigation is expensive, but it’s often unavoidable. Consequently, most landlords seek to ensure they can recover their legal costs if they have to take the tenant to court to enforce the lease.
Dos & Don'ts

Call All Tenant Payments ‘Rent’ or ‘Additional Rent’

November 23, 2021    
Landlords should make it a point of emphasis to ensure that the lease describes all tenant payments and charges as either “rent” or “additional rent.” While it might seem like a legal technicality, using these terms ensures you access to fast-track eviction if the tenant...
Owner Wins

Tenant's Control of Parking Lot Makes Accident Work-Related

November 23, 2021    
What Happened: A 70-year-old supermarket employee who just finished her shift stepped into a pothole while walking to her car. The workers comp board rejected her claim for benefits. Citing provisions in the supermarket’s lease making the landlord responsible for maintaining the shopping...
Owner Wins

Expedited Holdover Eviction Available Even When Lease Terminates Early

November 23, 2021    
What Happened: Two years into its five-year term, a tenant leasing space for use as an airport hangar exercised its right to terminate early, without penalty, upon 180 days’ notice. The plan was for the tenant to remain in the space until the sides reached agreement on a new lease for a...
Owner Wins

Temporary COVID Closure Order Doesn’t Excuse Tenant’s Failure to Pay Rent

November 23, 2021    
What Happened: A fitness center tenant that had to close down temporarily in response to the governor’s COVID-19 pandemic closure orders remained in its space but didn’t pay rent for the time it was closed. The landlord sued, and the tenant relied on the lease force majeure clause and a...
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