Commercial Lease Termination? Landlord-->Tenant New York
Hey guys,
I recently purchased a mixed-use property in the Bronx consisting of 7 apartments and one commercial unit / Store.
This question is in regard to the Commercial Unit; its currently a Footwear and Clothing store. The Commercial Tenant has about a year left on his lease. He pays a thousand dollars a month He has has been giving me hints of probably closing his business down or selling his business.
I was wondering if he wishes to terminate his lease can I sue him for the remaining balance left on his lease? If I dont want to take him to court can I cut a deal with the Commercial Tenant and tell him give me 5 or 6 momths rent and I will terminate the lease.
2) He has ideas of selling the store to a guy who used to work in his store. But everytime this guy worked in the store it was always a hangout spot in front of my property. Can I halt the tenant from selling it to this particular person, can I raise the rent if the lease is transferred to this person. PLEASE , ANY KIND OF ADVISE IS GREATLY APPRECIATED.
Thank you all
Val
Bronx, NY
Okay, first of all, there are a good number of people on this site who are much more competent in commercial real estate than I am. That said, NYC is pretty much unlike any other location in the US. So make sure you speak with an attorney to understand what the local law does and does not allow.
Look at your lease. Does it have a clause that allows the tenant to get out of the lease in case the business closes or for some other reason? If not, then you can probably take him to court to get what he is legally obliged to pay you. Of course cutting a deal can save both you and the tenant some headaches and a good deal of time.
As for having any say as to who he can and cannot sell his business to, that again should be in your lease. I can imagine this being a rather difficult argument to make, but if you can prove that selling the business to this particular individual will have a negative impact on your property value and possibly create a more dangerous environment, then you might have an argument. Most likely, if it's not in the lease, then you have no say.