Feature
June 25, 2024
Don’t let a tenant’s foot-dragging cost you a loan.
Drafting Tips
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...
Negotiating Tips
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...
Owner Wins
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
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
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
May 28, 2024
Both cultivators and retailers pose unique challenges.
Dos & Don'ts
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
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
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.