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...
Owner Wins
April 26, 2023
What Happened: Seven years into its 10-year lease, a restaurant decided to permanently shut down its business and surrender the premises to the shopping center landlord. The key question: Did the landlord actually accept the surrender? The landlord claimed it did no such thing and sued the tenant...
Owner Loses
April 26, 2023
What Happened: A strip mall tenant made extensive improvements to convert what had been a used clothing store into a grocery store. Over time, relations with the landlord soured. Convinced that he was paying too much for rent and CAM, the tenant decided to vacate and move to a new location when the...
Feature
March 23, 2023
Boilerplate leases don’t usually address these scenarios.
Plugging Loopholes
March 23, 2023
Delays are apt to occur any time you perform pre-move-in construction work for a new tenant. Such delays may result in your not being able to complete the work by the date the tenant is required to begin paying rent under the lease. To protect tenants in the event of such a contingency, leases...
Pop Quiz
March 23, 2023
Tenants are generally allowed to transfer their lease interests to a third party as long as the landlord is notified and provides consent in advance. The two basic ways to structure such arrangements are as:
Owner Wins
March 23, 2023
What Happened: In January 2021, a tenant signed an offer to purchase the building with closing to occur within 45 days. But after six months of unsuccessful negotiation, the deal fell through. The landlord then sued to evict the tenant for failing to pay rent for the period after the first three...
