Some friends have been renting a warehouse for any number of purposes (primary residence for 8 or so ppl, bio-disel recyclying plant, after-hours club) and lately have been contemplating ending the project prior to the terms of their lease (with atleast $30,000 that they’re still obligated to pay if they stayed the full amount of time). So the question for everyone is: what is the best way (assuming the landlord is not cooperative, which is something they want to be prepared for) to get out of the lease. Does the fact that they’re living there helpful in the sense that the landlord knew they’d be living in a industrial-zoned space and still let them sign the lease? What other strategies (aside from seeking legal advice) might work in this situation?
For the purpose of this thread it will be assumed “IANAL” applies unless otherwise stated.
I sell and lease commerical-industrial space for a living. See an attorney. It really depends on the lease and the jusrisdiction. There are lots of ways to attempt to break leases, but sans non-perfromance by the LL, most would involve fraudulent claims by the tenant.
Without getting into a legal battle your best bet would be to sub-lease the space if that’s allowed in your lease. In some cases you can even make money doing this in a hot market if your rate is reasonable and you increase the rental rate.
Its a very unique space and probably would be tough to sublet even at a loss.
As far as non-performance issues, there is a major leak that the landlord refuses to deal with, there are two parking spots promised the in lease which the LL refuses to give access to, there were a lot of problems the tenants had to deal with themselves (no running water when they moved in due to broken pipes which they had to fix themselves with 0 remuneration).
Still no massive faults on the LL’s part that would constitute a serious breach.
Even if the landlord wasn’t taking care of the property, he can still sue us if we break the lease…surely there is some smart ways to minimize the chance of legal action but still get out of the lease?