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.
Pop Quiz
August 29, 2023
In this digital age, significant disruption to internet service can inflict massive damage to a business. If that business belongs to one of your tenants, you might find yourself the target of a lawsuit for breach of lease; breakdowns in internet service may also be a defense relieving tenants of...
Dos & Don'ts
August 29, 2023
Don’t rely on “implied” covenants that aren’t expressly stated in the lease if you want retail tenants to continuously operate from their space. There’s a possibility that a court will find that such a covenant exists in limited circumstances, such as when the lease...
Owner Wins
August 29, 2023
What Happened: A nonprofit ran a multi-day music festival on recreational space it leased from the city. Two attendees who purchased tickets to the event were denied entry because they were carrying guns in violation of music festival rules banning attendees from having weapons while inside the...
Owner Loses
August 29, 2023
What Happened: A call center employee who stopped by the office to pick up her paycheck after sunset got run over by a city bus and died. Her estate sued the call center and landlord for negligence. The defendants denied owing the victim a duty of care because the accident occurred on city property...
Feature
July 27, 2023
Landlords who rely on tenants' inflated sales projections are apt to get burned.
Traps to Avoid
July 27, 2023
We’ll give you three ways to protect yourself.
Marketing brochures and communications that describe your property, its amenities, and tenant mix are instrumental to attracting new tenants. But they can also get you into trouble if the information they contain is inaccurate. The risk is...