Leases frequently provide that either party can terminate them if damage is caused by a casualty in the last two years of the lease term. This could serve as an incentive for such a “casualty” to take place, and hence the question we ask. Yes, a cheap trick.

Last week, we opened this topic by ruminating about the “measure” to be used when figuring out just “how badly” a building or the leased space had been “damaged” in the context of whether either a landlord or its tenant can “bail out” of a lease. We suggested that the measure should be based on how long it would take to repair, not how much of the property or the leased space was affected (or even how much it might cost). While one reader asked, legitimately we might add, “why should a landlord be able to [Read more…]