Check Cure Period in Lease Before Sending Default Notice

April 1, 2005

Before sending out a default notice to a tenant, check the lease to see how much time the tenant has to cure—that is, fix—the lease violation before it becomes a default, advises Ohio attorney Abraham Lieberman. Then make sure the default notice gives the tenant that same amount of time to cure the violation, he says. If you don't check the lease before sending out the default notice, you might mistakenly give the tenant more time to cure than the lease requires, Lieberman warns. And you may not later be able to fix that mistake or prevent the delay.

Before sending out a default notice to a tenant, check the lease to see how much time the tenant has to cure—that is, fix—the lease violation before it becomes a default, advises Ohio attorney Abraham Lieberman. Then make sure the default notice gives the tenant that same amount of time to cure the violation, he says. If you don't check the lease before sending out the default notice, you might mistakenly give the tenant more time to cure than the lease requires, Lieberman warns. And you may not later be able to fix that mistake or prevent the delay.

If you try to fix your mistake after the tenant gets the default notice, the tenant could go to court to stop you. And the tenant may be in a good position to convince a court that the default notice effectively amended the lease and gave the tenant more time to cure the violation, Lieberman says. You could argue that the default notice was an invalid amendment because you didn't get any “consideration” (that is, payment, compensation, or something of value) in exchange for your promise to extend the cure period. But there's no assurance that the court would buy your argument, warns Lieberman.

CLLI Sources

Abraham Lieberman, Esq.: Member, Baumgartner & O'Toole, 5455 Detroit Rd., Sheffield Village, OH 44054; (440) 930-4001; alieberman@b-olaw.com.

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