Jury Must Decide if Owner Violated Tenants' Leases

After buying a shopping center, the owner sent two tenants letters saying that it intended to terminate all leases. Although the tenants and the owner discussed the termination of their leases, they never signed written termination agreements. Both tenants moved out in March and didn't pay the April rent. So the owner notified the tenants that they had 14 days to pay the rent due or it would terminate their leases. When the tenants failed to pay the April rent, the owner terminated the leases. The tenants then sued the owner, claiming that the owner had violated the covenant of quiet enjoyment in their leases, constructively evicting them. The owner asked the court to dismiss their lawsuit, which it did. The tenants appealed.

A Wisconsin appeals court reinstated the lawsuit, ruling that a jury would have to decide if the owner had violated the tenants' leases. The court said that a jury could reasonably believe the tenants' argument that the owner had violated their leases and constructively evicted them by, among other things, cutting services, beginning construction to remove asbestos from parts of the center, reducing the center's hours, closing some of the entrances, erecting a fence around the center, and decreasing security [Park v. Boulder Venture 9].