Enforcing a Tenant Option to Purchase Under “Changed Circumstances”
Commercial leases sometimes contain an option allowing the tenant to purchase the property. If the option is properly exercised, an enforceable purchase and sale obligation is…
Enforceability of Commercial Lease Co-Tenancy Provisions
A commercial lease co-tenancy clause conditions a retail tenant’s opening for business or continuing operations at the designated property upon another tenant opening for business or…
Right of First Refusal Overcomes “Uncertain” Language and Bad Faith
A right of first refusal is a contractual right to purchase property that arises when the owner decides to sell. The holder of a right of…
Commercial Leases, Arbitration, and Attorney Fee Awards
This post was primarily authored by Zachary B. Young, a “Rising Star” for four years running who was recently elevated to Partner at Patton Sullivan Brodehl…
Attorney Fee Recovery by Third Parties Dragged into Commercial Lease Disputes
Commercial leases often contain attorney fee provisions allowing a party who prevails in litigation to recover attorney fees from the losing party. Can those attorney fee…
Foreclosure Against a Commercial Landlord: Impact on Lease Rights
Foreclosure can often have tricky impacts on lease rights, as covered on Money and Dirt in prior posts. See Eviction After Foreclosure: California Supreme Court Weighs…
Can a Holdover Commercial Tenant Hold On to a Right of First Refusal?
In California, a holdover tenant (a tenant who remains in possession after the expiration of the written lease) has fewer rights than a tenant operating under…
Contribution Rights Among Co-Guarantors: Liability Must Be Proportional
In reviewing notable guaranty cases from 2017 while preparing this year’s updates and edits for CEB’s top-notch treatise, California Mortgages, Deeds of Trust, and Foreclosure Litigation,…
Commercial Landlord Not Liable to Holdover Tenant for Damages on the Leased Premises
When a commercial lease tenant experiences the joy of a sewer line backup, which causes raw sewage to flow from all of the sinks on the…
Commercial Lease “Co-Tenancy” Clauses: Unconscionable, Penalty, or Enforceable?
When a court of appeal announces that it is tackling a new commercial lease issue for the first time ever in a published decision, it’s wise…