Owner Wins
October 24, 2023
What Happened: Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Los Angeles County imposed a temporary moratorium on residential and commercial evictions. A commercial landlord that had leased property to an auto repair tenant that was no longer paying rent due to COVID sued the county, claiming that the moratorium...
Owner Wins
October 24, 2023
What Happened: A restaurant tenant sold its business to another operator and her brother, the Marcials, who signed a 10-year lease with the landlord to continue operating the restaurant and bar from its current location at the mall. Problems with the transaction arose, and the original tenant ended...
Owner Wins
October 24, 2023
What Happened: A landlord bound by a no-compete clause with Verizon Wireless leased retail property to a vape shop for the “sole purpose of a vape, tobacco, clothing, computer repair” operation. The lease also required the tenant to refrain from competing with Verizon “or any...
Feature
September 27, 2023
We’ll give you seven key terms to put into your relocation clause.
Drafting Tips
September 27, 2023
Grudges are part of any personal or business relationships. It’s a lesson that most landlords learn when tenants bring or threaten lawsuits over old grievances in a bid to get out of their lease, stall an eviction, or otherwise increase their leverage over you in a current dispute. Defending...
Dos & Don'ts
September 27, 2023
If a tenant exercises a renewal option without following all the procedures or requirements set out in the renewal clause, object right away. Failure to speak now may mean that you’ll forever have to hold your peace. That’s because a court might determine that in keeping silent you...
Owner Loses
September 27, 2023
What Happened: A construction materials tenant that admitted to not paying rent and abandoning the premises had no problem with the default judgment entered in the landlord’s favor but claimed that the sought-after award of 47 months’ rent was excessive, noting that the lease clearly...
Owner Wins
September 27, 2023
What Happened: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a landlord agreed to reduce a retail tenant’s rent from $7,147 to $3,500. Signed in November 2020, the agreement was retroactive to May 2020 to March 2021, at which time rent would revert back to the original amount. However, the tenant...
Owner Loses
September 27, 2023
What Happened: A restaurant subtenant admitted to defaulting on its obligation to pay rent and vacating the premises. But it objected to the $689,554.94 that the trial court awarded because the landlord didn’t mitigate its damages by seeking to relet the space to another tenant. We have no...
Feature
August 29, 2023
Don’t wait for a project to begin to address the issue. Put key redevelopment rights in the lease.
