Feature
May 25, 2023
Don’t get burned if the tenant doesn’t complete the improvements work.
Plugging Loopholes
May 25, 2023
Federal and state laws make property owners liable for environmental damage done by a tenant. That makes it imperative to verify that tenants comply with those laws. But a tenant may refuse to grant you access to inspect or perform environmental testing for that purpose. And without clear lease...
Winners & Losers
May 25, 2023
When tenants go out of business landlords pay the price. One way to cushion the financial blow is to go after the tenant’s parent corporation for the unpaid rents and other revenues owed under the lease. But without an express lease guaranty, holding a corporation liable for the debts of its...
Owner Wins
May 25, 2023
What Happened: Operating a Bitcoin mining business requires unusually high amounts of electricity. Miffed at learning this lesson the hard way, an office building landlord threatened a Bitcoin tenant with eviction. When the electric company later shut down the tenant’s power after...
Owner Loses
May 25, 2023
What Happened: An insurance company tenant that had leased office space in the same building for nearly 15 years wanted out when a new owner acquired the property. In May 2019, the parties agreed to modify the lease duration to end on June 30, 2020, one year before the lease’s written...
Owner Wins
May 25, 2023
What Happened: A fitness center asked its landlord to refund the rent it paid during the 15 weeks that it couldn’t operate because government COVID-19 shutdown orders were in effect. The landlord refused. So, the tenant sued. Both sides moved for summary judgment—that is, a ruling on...
Feature
April 26, 2023
Holdovers can be a nightmare for landlords. When tenants don’t clear out after their lease expires, you may have to go to court to evict them. Meanwhile, the replacement tenant can’t move into the space and could end up suing you. Or, if you haven’t yet re-rented the space, the...
Drafting Tips
April 26, 2023
In these hard economic times in which so many businesses are being forced to shut down, it’s not unusual for commercial tenants to vacate their leased space without warning and leave all of their personal property and furnishings behind. In addition to losing a tenancy, landlords then face...
In the News
April 26, 2023
The ruling opens the door for NYC commercial landlords to recoup unpaid rent from personal guarantors.
By Sujata Yalamanchili, Erin Teske, and Dylan Weber
Owner Wins
April 26, 2023
What Happened: As courts continue to routinely reject force majeure, impossibility, frustration of purpose, and other defenses, it’s hardly surprising that retail tenants would come up with new theories to excuse their failure to pay rent during COVID-19 shutdowns. The fitness center tenant...
