Owner Loses

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Facts: The initial term of a lease between an owner and its tenant, a supermarket, was for 20 years and contained an option for the tenant to renew four times for five-year extension periods. Under the initial term, the lease would automatically renew unless the tenant notified the owner that it intended not to renew within 120 days of the end of the lease term.

Facts: The owner of a gas station leased the building used as a convenience store and the underlying lot to a tenant for a five-year term. The lease gave the owner the option of renewing the lease every five years, with a total of five additional five-year terms. There would be an increase in base rent each time the lease was renewed. The lease also contained an assignment clause providing the tenant with a right to transfer or assign the lease with the...

Facts: A mattress store tenant signed a lease with a shopping center owner for space next to a national chain grocery store. The monthly rent was $5,000. After the grocery store moved out of its space, the tenant stopped paying rent, gave a 60-day notice to the owner, and moved out. At that time it already owed two months of back rent, or $10,000.

Facts: An owner bought a building that already leased space to a restaurant, among other tenants. The tenants’ leases were assigned to the owner. The owner discovered that a tenant renting space for two bars and a delicatessen (restaurant tenant) in the building had been using the basement of the building for storage.

Facts: A pedestrian slipped and fell on ice in the parking lot of a shopping center. She sued the owner of the property. The owner asserted that the tenant that rented the store near the parking lot was obligated to keep not only its space and the area adjacent to the store but also the parking lot free from ice and snow. The owner sued the tenant, within the same lawsuit, for allegedly breaching its lease by not maintaining the parking lot. The tenant ...

Facts: A discount store rented space at a strip mall. The lease provided that the center’s owner would maintain the lighting in the common areas, including the area of the center behind the stores, which was used as a loading dock for merchandise to be brought into the tenant’s store. The owner also agreed to indemnify the tenant for claims arising from an unsafe condition on the premises caused by the owner’s maintenance failure.

Facts: An office building owner continued to accept rent from a tenant after its lease was over. The lease provided that the owner could sue the holdover tenant for liquidated damages if it failed to surrender the space when the term ended. Several months later, the owner sent a “Notice to Surrender and Pay Rent,” to the tenant, terminating the holdover tenancy and ordering it to move out. The owner also informed the tenant that he owed back...

Facts: A restaurant tenant rented space in a strip center. The entire property was 82,875 square feet. The “buildingfootprint” and the total leasable area was 21,415 square feet. The restaurant tenant leased 6,281 square feet of the property. In addition to base rent, the tenant was to pay a proportionate share of common area maintenance (CAM) charges.

Facts: An owner and a tenant disagreed about which party owned the outdoor advertising sign on top of the building. The owner asserted that the sign is an “improvement and appurtenance” to the building and therefore was conveyed to it when it bought the building. The tenant contends that the lease gives it ownership of the sign and the right to remove it at any time.

Facts: The employee of a fish market that rented the ground floor in a commercial building slipped and fell on ice on the sidewalk outside the store. He sued the owner of the building and the tenant. He asserted that the tenant and owner were both negligent by allowing the icy condition to exist and that they had actual notice and constructive notice of the hazardous condition. The tenant and owner each asked the court for a judgment in its favor withou...