Feature
October 24, 2022
Working from home and other post-COVID business realities have made many office tenants reluctant to sign a long-term lease. One way to overcome this is by offering tenants the option to terminate the lease early if the rent becomes unaffordable or the space becomes unnecessary. But while offering...
Traps to Avoid
October 24, 2022
It’s a clause that almost every commercial lease contains, yet rarely gets even 10 seconds of attention. The clause says something to the effect that “Landlord has made no representations to Tenant other than those contained in the terms expressly stated in this Lease.” The idea...
Pop Quiz
October 24, 2022
“The notice is in the mail.”
Owner Wins
October 24, 2022
What Happened: Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: A restaurant tenant struggled to pay rent after the governor issued a COVID-19 shutdown order in March 2020. In August, the landlord sued for breach of lease. The tenant admitted to owing the landlord rent but claimed...
Owner Wins
October 24, 2022
What Happened: Frustrated by the landlord’s failure to remedy unsanitary conditions at the site, a warehouse tenant moved out of the property and stopped paying rent. In the lawsuit that followed, the tenant claimed the landlord violated the implied warranty of habitability. The court...
Feature
September 23, 2022
It costs a lot of money to maintain a heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system. There’s also a lot at stake. Keeping the HVAC system humming is crucial to maintaining comfort, ensuring air quality, and, in some cases, preserving tenants’ stored inventory. Accordingly,...
Negotiating Tips
September 23, 2022
When negotiating a percentage rent lease, don’t be surprised if a retail tenant demands that you exclude bad debts from the formula for calculating gross sales. This is hardly an unreasonable demand. After all, why should the tenant have to pay percentage rent on customer receivables that it...
Pop Quiz
September 23, 2022
Suppose a landlord commits a serious violation of environmental laws that renders leased property unsafe for tenants to occupy. What legal remedies would the tenant have against the landlord? Here’s a scenario based on a recent federal case from Pennsylvania that sheds some light on this...
Owner Loses
September 23, 2022
What Happened: A nonprofit landlord leased property to a for-profit utility to operate a solar-powered electric-generating facility. The lease required the tenant to:
Owner Wins
September 23, 2022
What Happened: A landlord sued Saks, Inc., for failure to honor a corporate guaranty of its subsidiary’s obligation to pay rent under its shopping center lease. Saks owes us attorneys’ fees and consequential damages covering the loss in the property’s value we suffered due to its...
