Were You Accused of Breaching Your Commercial Lease?
Background
New York business owners know the importance of a good commercial lease. Unlike residential leases, commercial leases are usually long-term, since business owners generally plan to have their business remain in the same location.
If you are an Albany business owner, being accused of breaching your commercial lease can be distressing. Losing your lease leaves you with no place to run your business, which could mean the end of your business altogether.
Table of Contents
What is Breaching a Lease?
Commercial landlords must have specific grounds to terminate a commercial lease, such as a breach of the lease. Common examples of breaching a lease are not paying rent on time, using the property for unauthorized purposes or violating some other lease provision.
If you are complying with all terms of your lease and your lease term is not expired, your landlord typically has no legal grounds to evict you.
For example, your landlord cannot evict you or accuse you of breaching your commercial lease over minor disagreements or personal problems between the two of you. Your actions must be a direct violation of the lease.
Beware of a Break Clause
However, your lease might contain a special section known as a break clause. This clause allows a landlord to end the lease in certain circumstances.
The break clause must specify the exact situations that allow a landlord to terminate the lease early. A break clause can be risky, since your landlord does not need to allege that you breached any part of your lease to terminate the lease.
When you are accused of breaching your lease, your landlord has a legal duty to tell you the nature of the breach. You must know what lease clause you are accused of violating so you can prepare a defense.
Your landlord must also follow all legal procedures when seeking to evict you for a commercial lease violation. This means providing you with proper notice and taking any additional steps required before filing for eviction in court.
You have a right to attend an eviction hearing and put on a defense to the breach of lease accusation.
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