In our last two postings, we Ruminated about some of the issues involved in negotiating a lease’s damage and destruction provisions. If you missed those postings, start HERE and then continue HERE. Today, we’re going to Ruminate about whether and when a landlord should or will repair or restore its tenant’s premises or any other part of the property for that matter.
First we’ll fall back on the same questions we ask when someone isn’t paying what they owe. Is it that they can’t or that they won’t? That’s an important part of the analysis, because if “they can’t,” then learn the tune of “Dixie,” because that’s what you’ll be whistling. If you don’t know the tune, click HERE. You see, if the landlord just plain doesn’t have the money, you can’t even collect a damage judgment. And, given that most landlords are single purpose, single asset (the property in question) entities, if the property has burned to the ground, there ain’t nothing. Fortunately, this “pure” you “can’t get blood from a stone” landlord isn’t as common as you might think. You’d need a situation where a great deal of the property (and thus the landlord’s equity) was destroyed and there are no insurance proceeds or financially qualified tortfeasors to “chip in.” [Read more…]
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