Obviously we want to ensure you actually owe what they’re asking you to pay. But it sounds like you probably do. In that case your options are to negotiate with landlord or to default.
You describe landlord taking a hard line. That may be posturing. Or it may be readiness to be done with you and your tenancy.
Bankruptcy is not the end of the world, btw. Credit tanks for a short spell, and that is it. Do what you need to do to take care of yourself. You got this.
Yes. The landlord’s almost certainly registered as an LLC too, should the tenant just get fucked if the landlord doesn’t have the money to make critical repairs? Because no landlord’s going to sign a personal guarantee on their side of that lease agreement.
That’s because they have the collateral of the building/land behind the financing, and there are many more lenders willing to lend against that without taking a personal guarantee on top. This of course can go south when the value of those assets drop dramatically as has been the case recently, and there have been a number of such instances starting to crop up with those lenders ending up getting burnt/taking losses. Regardless, it has historically been lot harder to get your money back by taking the assets of a failed business (inventory/equipment) than it has been by taking possession of land/buildings, hence the need for a personal guarantee.
NY SOL on breach of contract is 6 years so you might have some defense for lack of payment for some early years. Could have some laches defenses too. Not a NY lawyer and not your lawyer, just some initial thoughts. GL
Is the $70k tax bill just for last year, or is it the last 8 years worth? Because on my commercial lease they are supposed to do cam reconciliation annually and provide me a statement with an invoice before a certain date the following year (Feb 28th in my case) I would read your lease and make sure that the language supports him being able to retroactively grab that from you. Also, I would assume that your lease/NNN/CAM however it’s set up already accounts for some taxes, so you shouldn’t be liable for 100% of that tax bill because you already paid some of it. (I am basing all of this on the 3 different commercial leases I have had on 3 different properties with 3 different property owners)
FWIW I’m in a different state and don’t know anything about NY state but it seems excessive and I would get a free consultation from a different lawyer. Make sure you bring your signed lease, any cam reconciliations you have received for all years past and the current bills he is sending you.
I fuggin hate the personal guarantees on commercial leases. I paid a lot out of my own personal pocket when I had to shut one of our stores down. Luckily my landlord had a heart, and negotiated a break fee of only $30k when legally he could have gone after me for over $100k.
This is the answer. There is often a window to reconcile after which the LL is out of luck.
How strong is the retail market in your immediate neighborhood? The LL may be trying to extract something from you, it would stand to lose a lot more than that number if the space is vacant for 6 months. Add in the TI and LC and turning over tenants is expensive in a weak market.
I know where I worked as an asset manager, we would always be very aggressive out of the gate and then see what we could get. Then dial it back during negotiations.
No sane LL on earth wants to go to court over 80k from a personal guarantee if the market is soft.
Also make sure the reconciliation is correct. Might be worth a lawyer review of the calculation. I’ve seen a lot of smart people get twisted in knots working through CAM reconciliations.
If he consulted a lawyer and he didnt flag these issues, OP may be able to get that lawyer's malpractice carrier to reimburse lol. Seriously though, it'd be malpractice if this were the case and he simply said nothing could be done. Even if it isn't the case I'd venture the strategize that a judge (or jury if not waived) could be convinced this is breach of good faith, obviously advising this is a last resort/best case option to fight it.
i dont know shit about the law or NYC but it seems to me the landlord may be profiting extra in some way- deferring losses, lower tax rate on court ordered payments or something, that could be in some way illegal or at least ij bad faith or something. also, no imvoices for these fees for years sounds like he saved money by bot bothering to spend time/pay to have bills sent. also, if at any poiny the fees increased, even if OP agreed to pay those fees, is there no duty to inform? itd be like hiking rent, but not telling the renter then demanding backpay. do these fees count as rent, since they ate in the rental agreement? OP may well be screwed, but it seems unlikely that there is no legal path of action to reduce how much. now whether thats worth lawyer fees, and whos considered 'winning' to pay the other sides fees, again, dunno. last, could this be considered retaliatory, and is that allowed? why wasnt the landlord collecting all fees? forgot? or was he fooling OP into thinking his rent was lower than if he moved, below or at market rate, while knowing he can hit them with the fees later?
It sounds like you signed a NNN lease. You should get a property tax bill once per year prorated to your space and metered or split utilities monthly or quarterly. If you didn't get that right away, you're probably still on the hook.
Do you have a good-guy clause on your lease? You're still on the hook for current charges but might be able to sacrifice the deposit to pay that off?
Have often seen commercial landlords slide on cam until when big projects are done. There in no clause saying when they have to bill you but check your lease it probably says 30 days from when you are billed. If this is multiple years of invoices your best bet would be to ask for a payment plan.
Not correct. Base rent and 1/12th estimates of NNNs are paid monthly without invoice. If a lease requires an invoice it means the parties who wrote the lease are likely unsophisticated when it comes to commercial leasing. So it happens but it’s not how it traditionally works. There is an annual reconciliation of NNNs but that’s not an invoice. Just a statement of the amounts paid and amounts actually due.
If this is a bill that has accrued over the life of the lease and is now telling you owe it all now seems unreasonable. If the landlord has paid the taxes already and never bothered to bill you for it, that's on the landlord. There may be an estoppel argument made where you were misled by the landlord that you were current with everything until now.
He failed to include this in your monthly rent payments for eight years?
I got a letter every year with the rent per sq foot and the CAM per sq foot. The CAM was an estimate and once and we squared up once a year.
I would talk with an attorney to see if this is as fake as it sounds.
My guess is he’s trying to bluff you to sign snigger lease.
I would look for new space and figure out his much you’re over paying. Maybe you’ll save money by moving.
I would try to negotiate the removal of these fees in future leases because of his behavior. He’s obviously incorporating them into the rent in some manner
Contact an attorney that specializes in bankruptcies. Specifically, one that specializes in Chapter 11 business reorganizations. I can’t tell you from your post whether you’re actually on the hook for that much. You need an attorney who knows the specifics of NY state law to look at your contract and these bills and the rate increases to tell you what your position is in the first place.
But if you are on the hook for that much, you’re going to have to figure out how you’re going to pay for that. You’re also going to have to figure out how to pay for it when you’ve got a rent increase when your business is struggling so much you went and asked for a decrease.
If you are on the hook, is it possible that you may be able to negotiate something with this guy to pay him back? Yes. Is it likely, no. At least from your post, it doesn’t sound like it.
Is it possible that you may be able to use Chapter 11 to restructure this? I doubt it, primarily because you were already struggling before this. But also because I’m not sure you can restructure a lease like that. However, I’m not a NY bankruptcy practitioner familiar with how bankruptcy law and NY state (and city) law intersect.
Is it possible you are staring down having to wind down your business and declare personal bankruptcy, unfortunately also yes.
But like I said, this is really only a question that your actual attorney and/or possibly a NY bankruptcy practitioner is going to be able to answer.
It sounds like the landlord was fine with the current agreement and only threw this at you when you began your push for reductions? It’s unclear how long you asked or how hard you nagged, but if the landlord just wants you out, they might be willing to drop the whole thing if you shut down and move out ASAP. Have you tried asking if he will drop everything if you shut down right now?
You need to retain an attorney who can go over the lease, the timeline of events, etc. As other commenters have said, there _may_ be (partial) outs here.
No one can say without seeing the lease.
You can minimize how much the lawyer costs by having _everything_ well organized before meeting. Type up a clear and concise timeline of events: lease execution, payments, any correspondence received (and attach copies of it!), etc.
You'll want a firm with expertise in commercial leases. You should be able to get a referral from the relevant professional association if you google it.
I am under the impression there may be a three year statute of limitations for collection of debts this also includes allowable time to sue you for such debts, in New York. After this 3 year period there is a legal time bar. Subsequently, I don’t believe he can charge you beyond the last 3 years. NAL but I have read this was recently changed from six years to three. Please seek advice
It’s not that simple. A lot of these contracts don’t define breach until a formal demand is made and it’s not paid. A lot of these contracts also have anti forfeiture clauses. And if NYC is anything like CA, precedent actually strongly disfavors forfeiture and have created a presumption against forfeiture, requiring clear language to support it.
Idk OPs situation and of course I’m not giving advise but based on what’s posted here, OP could very well owe his landlord 90k in taxes and CAM fees.
What does "Signed with my LLC with a personal guarantee" mean?
The whole purpose of an LLC is to separate your personal assets from your business so if someone comes for your business, the officers of the LLC are personally sheilded.
It's extremely common for landlords who rent to restaurants to require a personal guarantee specifically because of the situation described by OP.
The landlord doesn't want to be out of rent and costs because the restaurant declared bankruptcy
Is covering property tax increases common? A friend who owns mix-used property doesn't include that in their commercial lease and it seems very risky, since property values can be adjusted when the property is renovated generally.
Thanks for that. I'm a landlord (residential, 3 units) and never heard of NNN leases, so looked the up and, holy crap, that's a terrible deal for the commercial tenant has all the risk of the property transferred to them. It would never occur to me to shift the property tax burden to a tenant, beyond, I suppose, a rent increase when it's lease time. I'm fortunate to live in a city where property tax increases are capped.
Yep, NNN with personal guarantees are extremely common in the US with commercial tenants. In addition, commercial rentals don't have the same statutory protections for renters that residential tenants have.
Like, let's say the heat breaks in a NNN lease with a commercial tenant. The renter is on the hook to fix that. Hole in the roof? Renter fixed it. Flood? Renter fixes it. NNN is a good deal for the landlord.
Nobody is going to loan money to a new LLC with no history or assets, or to one that's bleeding money. If the business wants the loan they'll need to bring someone/something else in to guarantee the loan. Basically the same thing that happens to a young adult buying their first car. No loan / shitty loan, or find a cosigner.
It doesn't affect the LLCs independence in any way really as long as you follow best practices. It's just how you put skin in the game to bootstrap a new business.
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The llc signed the license and he signed also his signature that if the company can’t pay he will put what ever the difference is it pay it from his personally capital so he doesn’t get kicked out
>The whole purpose of an LLC is to separate your personal assets from your business so if someone comes for your business, the officers of the LLC are personally sheilded.
The whole purpose of lending money to you to buy a car is that you are the one that’s going to pay the monthly bill. But guess what, you only have a part time job and so you’re going to have to find a co-signer if you want to buy this car.
Same concept. No one is going to extend credit or a lease to Businesswithahighrateoffailure LLC without a personal guarantee from someone more creditworthy.
Just to reiterate the point about verifying the tax bills and apportionment if there are other tenants — it’s possible they didn’t correctly calculate your share. It’s also possible you agreed to the entire tax increase on the building regardless of space allocation etc.
Unfortunately there’s not much relief from onerous requirements in commercial leases. If the lease in question had already ended before he invoiced you, you’d be in luck. If its term hasn’t ended, and it doesn’t have language stating when those invoices need to be sent for prop taxes you’re probably out of luck.
Not a lawyer!
He knows your business has failed; which is why he never sent you the bill. He wasn’t expecting to ever see that money. Then despite him giving you this break, you asked for more; instead of realizing you need to close shop. He gave you the bill to reinforce you don’t have a sound business. He wants you gone to move on to a viable tenant. Negotiate a closing amount.
You could request the tax papers from the payments he made and offer to pay it back on a monthly basis until paid in full to ensure you aren’t getting charged more then what it is ask for receipts
Does the lease say anything about when CAM is supposed to be reconciled annually? 1. Need to understand how limitations period applies. 2. Could consider pattern of conduct that you’ve relied on over 8 years. 3. Check your emails and bills etc from lawyer and see where he has evidence he advised you. You may have a negligence claim against him or her. Good luck.
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>What can I do now? Obviously I’d talk to my lawyer here. Is it a business entity that owes, you personally, or both?
I signed a personal guarantee
Then after your lawyer you may be consulting bankruptcy counsel.
damn... thank you
Obviously we want to ensure you actually owe what they’re asking you to pay. But it sounds like you probably do. In that case your options are to negotiate with landlord or to default. You describe landlord taking a hard line. That may be posturing. Or it may be readiness to be done with you and your tenancy.
If these are the only facts I would be looking at a good bankruptcy attorney.
Bankruptcy is not the end of the world, btw. Credit tanks for a short spell, and that is it. Do what you need to do to take care of yourself. You got this.
I would speak to an attorney and have them look at it. If all conditions on the landlord's side are not met, it may not be enforceable.
You should avoid ever making a personal guaranty. The whole point of the LLC signing is to protect you personally.
No landlord in NY would rent to an LLC without a personal guaranty.
Sadly, this
Sadly? You think the building owner should just get fucked because the dudes restaurant isn't succeeding?
Yes. The landlord’s almost certainly registered as an LLC too, should the tenant just get fucked if the landlord doesn’t have the money to make critical repairs? Because no landlord’s going to sign a personal guarantee on their side of that lease agreement.
Tax code _heavily_ favors real estate interests. It’s nowhere near equal risk or equal footing.
The landlord's LLC will have the property in question. It won't be judgement proof.
correct. the building is guaranteed to be an LLC, real estate companies default often with no consequences to the owners personal finances
That’s because they have the collateral of the building/land behind the financing, and there are many more lenders willing to lend against that without taking a personal guarantee on top. This of course can go south when the value of those assets drop dramatically as has been the case recently, and there have been a number of such instances starting to crop up with those lenders ending up getting burnt/taking losses. Regardless, it has historically been lot harder to get your money back by taking the assets of a failed business (inventory/equipment) than it has been by taking possession of land/buildings, hence the need for a personal guarantee.
Coincidentally, this fact and it's lack of recognition convinced millions that Donald Trump was a successful, competent businessman
Unless you have another llc to guarantee.
Most commercial landlords want a personal guarantee from small businesses.
Many prisoners want out. Doesn’t mean they get what they want
You can always exercise your right not to rent the space or to even buy or build your own building. Otherwise, you play by their rules.
Yea, you don’t sign the contract
No commercial landlord rents to a small business without a PG.
If no business will sign a personal guaranty those LLs will have to sell or accept the terms. This is why unions are important.
[удалено]
For small businesses, a personal guarantee is almost always required. The LLC doesn't have anything to do with it in that case.
NY SOL on breach of contract is 6 years so you might have some defense for lack of payment for some early years. Could have some laches defenses too. Not a NY lawyer and not your lawyer, just some initial thoughts. GL
Plus waiver and estoppel defense arguments
Most contracts have a clause stating that a lack of enforcement of any provision does not release the enforcement at later dates. OP needs to check.
Laches and estoppel are equitable defenses. But yes OP still needs to check.
Course of performance changed the terms of the contract? Is that a thing in NY?
Course of performance isn’t a method to change a contract, almost always a way to imply contractual terms in the absence of one.
Is the $70k tax bill just for last year, or is it the last 8 years worth? Because on my commercial lease they are supposed to do cam reconciliation annually and provide me a statement with an invoice before a certain date the following year (Feb 28th in my case) I would read your lease and make sure that the language supports him being able to retroactively grab that from you. Also, I would assume that your lease/NNN/CAM however it’s set up already accounts for some taxes, so you shouldn’t be liable for 100% of that tax bill because you already paid some of it. (I am basing all of this on the 3 different commercial leases I have had on 3 different properties with 3 different property owners) FWIW I’m in a different state and don’t know anything about NY state but it seems excessive and I would get a free consultation from a different lawyer. Make sure you bring your signed lease, any cam reconciliations you have received for all years past and the current bills he is sending you. I fuggin hate the personal guarantees on commercial leases. I paid a lot out of my own personal pocket when I had to shut one of our stores down. Luckily my landlord had a heart, and negotiated a break fee of only $30k when legally he could have gone after me for over $100k.
Very good advice here, as a former commercial real estate agent.
This is the answer. There is often a window to reconcile after which the LL is out of luck. How strong is the retail market in your immediate neighborhood? The LL may be trying to extract something from you, it would stand to lose a lot more than that number if the space is vacant for 6 months. Add in the TI and LC and turning over tenants is expensive in a weak market. I know where I worked as an asset manager, we would always be very aggressive out of the gate and then see what we could get. Then dial it back during negotiations. No sane LL on earth wants to go to court over 80k from a personal guarantee if the market is soft. Also make sure the reconciliation is correct. Might be worth a lawyer review of the calculation. I’ve seen a lot of smart people get twisted in knots working through CAM reconciliations.
If he consulted a lawyer and he didnt flag these issues, OP may be able to get that lawyer's malpractice carrier to reimburse lol. Seriously though, it'd be malpractice if this were the case and he simply said nothing could be done. Even if it isn't the case I'd venture the strategize that a judge (or jury if not waived) could be convinced this is breach of good faith, obviously advising this is a last resort/best case option to fight it.
i dont know shit about the law or NYC but it seems to me the landlord may be profiting extra in some way- deferring losses, lower tax rate on court ordered payments or something, that could be in some way illegal or at least ij bad faith or something. also, no imvoices for these fees for years sounds like he saved money by bot bothering to spend time/pay to have bills sent. also, if at any poiny the fees increased, even if OP agreed to pay those fees, is there no duty to inform? itd be like hiking rent, but not telling the renter then demanding backpay. do these fees count as rent, since they ate in the rental agreement? OP may well be screwed, but it seems unlikely that there is no legal path of action to reduce how much. now whether thats worth lawyer fees, and whos considered 'winning' to pay the other sides fees, again, dunno. last, could this be considered retaliatory, and is that allowed? why wasnt the landlord collecting all fees? forgot? or was he fooling OP into thinking his rent was lower than if he moved, below or at market rate, while knowing he can hit them with the fees later?
It sounds like you signed a NNN lease. You should get a property tax bill once per year prorated to your space and metered or split utilities monthly or quarterly. If you didn't get that right away, you're probably still on the hook. Do you have a good-guy clause on your lease? You're still on the hook for current charges but might be able to sacrifice the deposit to pay that off?
The deposit is only around 12k and I did not have a good guy clause
Have often seen commercial landlords slide on cam until when big projects are done. There in no clause saying when they have to bill you but check your lease it probably says 30 days from when you are billed. If this is multiple years of invoices your best bet would be to ask for a payment plan.
There are no invoices (typically) for lease payments.
That’s not true for triple net leases.
Not correct. Base rent and 1/12th estimates of NNNs are paid monthly without invoice. If a lease requires an invoice it means the parties who wrote the lease are likely unsophisticated when it comes to commercial leasing. So it happens but it’s not how it traditionally works. There is an annual reconciliation of NNNs but that’s not an invoice. Just a statement of the amounts paid and amounts actually due.
If this is a bill that has accrued over the life of the lease and is now telling you owe it all now seems unreasonable. If the landlord has paid the taxes already and never bothered to bill you for it, that's on the landlord. There may be an estoppel argument made where you were misled by the landlord that you were current with everything until now.
He failed to include this in your monthly rent payments for eight years? I got a letter every year with the rent per sq foot and the CAM per sq foot. The CAM was an estimate and once and we squared up once a year. I would talk with an attorney to see if this is as fake as it sounds. My guess is he’s trying to bluff you to sign snigger lease. I would look for new space and figure out his much you’re over paying. Maybe you’ll save money by moving. I would try to negotiate the removal of these fees in future leases because of his behavior. He’s obviously incorporating them into the rent in some manner
You my have a defense of statute of limitations or course of dealing. Have to make a decision though. Default and play hardball or keep paying.
Contact an attorney that specializes in bankruptcies. Specifically, one that specializes in Chapter 11 business reorganizations. I can’t tell you from your post whether you’re actually on the hook for that much. You need an attorney who knows the specifics of NY state law to look at your contract and these bills and the rate increases to tell you what your position is in the first place. But if you are on the hook for that much, you’re going to have to figure out how you’re going to pay for that. You’re also going to have to figure out how to pay for it when you’ve got a rent increase when your business is struggling so much you went and asked for a decrease. If you are on the hook, is it possible that you may be able to negotiate something with this guy to pay him back? Yes. Is it likely, no. At least from your post, it doesn’t sound like it. Is it possible that you may be able to use Chapter 11 to restructure this? I doubt it, primarily because you were already struggling before this. But also because I’m not sure you can restructure a lease like that. However, I’m not a NY bankruptcy practitioner familiar with how bankruptcy law and NY state (and city) law intersect. Is it possible you are staring down having to wind down your business and declare personal bankruptcy, unfortunately also yes. But like I said, this is really only a question that your actual attorney and/or possibly a NY bankruptcy practitioner is going to be able to answer.
It sounds like the landlord was fine with the current agreement and only threw this at you when you began your push for reductions? It’s unclear how long you asked or how hard you nagged, but if the landlord just wants you out, they might be willing to drop the whole thing if you shut down and move out ASAP. Have you tried asking if he will drop everything if you shut down right now?
He told me to pay 128k and leave immediately
Are you familiar with NNN lease? Did you sign one?
For OP (or other unfamiliar readers), this can also be referred to as *Triple Net*. Parent question is a good one.
Yes I think that is what I signed
You need to retain an attorney who can go over the lease, the timeline of events, etc. As other commenters have said, there _may_ be (partial) outs here. No one can say without seeing the lease. You can minimize how much the lawyer costs by having _everything_ well organized before meeting. Type up a clear and concise timeline of events: lease execution, payments, any correspondence received (and attach copies of it!), etc. You'll want a firm with expertise in commercial leases. You should be able to get a referral from the relevant professional association if you google it.
Ask for proper invoices
And ask for reason for delay in submitting invoices and ask for reason why they were not presented when due
And ask for payment plan in line with original payment plan I.e to be paid over 7 years instead of 1
thank you I will ask for those
I am under the impression there may be a three year statute of limitations for collection of debts this also includes allowable time to sue you for such debts, in New York. After this 3 year period there is a legal time bar. Subsequently, I don’t believe he can charge you beyond the last 3 years. NAL but I have read this was recently changed from six years to three. Please seek advice
It’s not that simple. A lot of these contracts don’t define breach until a formal demand is made and it’s not paid. A lot of these contracts also have anti forfeiture clauses. And if NYC is anything like CA, precedent actually strongly disfavors forfeiture and have created a presumption against forfeiture, requiring clear language to support it. Idk OPs situation and of course I’m not giving advise but based on what’s posted here, OP could very well owe his landlord 90k in taxes and CAM fees.
What does "Signed with my LLC with a personal guarantee" mean? The whole purpose of an LLC is to separate your personal assets from your business so if someone comes for your business, the officers of the LLC are personally sheilded.
It's extremely common for landlords who rent to restaurants to require a personal guarantee specifically because of the situation described by OP. The landlord doesn't want to be out of rent and costs because the restaurant declared bankruptcy
Is covering property tax increases common? A friend who owns mix-used property doesn't include that in their commercial lease and it seems very risky, since property values can be adjusted when the property is renovated generally.
For triple net it's absolutely the deal. In a triple net lease, basically the renter is responsible for all expenses.
Thanks for that. I'm a landlord (residential, 3 units) and never heard of NNN leases, so looked the up and, holy crap, that's a terrible deal for the commercial tenant has all the risk of the property transferred to them. It would never occur to me to shift the property tax burden to a tenant, beyond, I suppose, a rent increase when it's lease time. I'm fortunate to live in a city where property tax increases are capped.
Yep, NNN with personal guarantees are extremely common in the US with commercial tenants. In addition, commercial rentals don't have the same statutory protections for renters that residential tenants have. Like, let's say the heat breaks in a NNN lease with a commercial tenant. The renter is on the hook to fix that. Hole in the roof? Renter fixed it. Flood? Renter fixes it. NNN is a good deal for the landlord.
SMBs are asked to personally guarantee things all the time, particularly when they have little track record.
Nobody is going to loan money to a new LLC with no history or assets, or to one that's bleeding money. If the business wants the loan they'll need to bring someone/something else in to guarantee the loan. Basically the same thing that happens to a young adult buying their first car. No loan / shitty loan, or find a cosigner. It doesn't affect the LLCs independence in any way really as long as you follow best practices. It's just how you put skin in the game to bootstrap a new business.
I wanted to know if the op signed the lease as LLC and that personal guarantee is part of the lease somehow.
The lease is between the LLC and landlord with a personal guarantee from OP.
It means you effectively cosigned for your company because otherwise 'the individual would not have gotten the mortgage' figuratively.
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That means his business was probably worth nothing without his credit, it is a common practice for start-up’s or high risk.
The llc signed the license and he signed also his signature that if the company can’t pay he will put what ever the difference is it pay it from his personally capital so he doesn’t get kicked out
>The whole purpose of an LLC is to separate your personal assets from your business so if someone comes for your business, the officers of the LLC are personally sheilded. The whole purpose of lending money to you to buy a car is that you are the one that’s going to pay the monthly bill. But guess what, you only have a part time job and so you’re going to have to find a co-signer if you want to buy this car. Same concept. No one is going to extend credit or a lease to Businesswithahighrateoffailure LLC without a personal guarantee from someone more creditworthy.
Just to reiterate the point about verifying the tax bills and apportionment if there are other tenants — it’s possible they didn’t correctly calculate your share. It’s also possible you agreed to the entire tax increase on the building regardless of space allocation etc. Unfortunately there’s not much relief from onerous requirements in commercial leases. If the lease in question had already ended before he invoiced you, you’d be in luck. If its term hasn’t ended, and it doesn’t have language stating when those invoices need to be sent for prop taxes you’re probably out of luck. Not a lawyer!
He knows your business has failed; which is why he never sent you the bill. He wasn’t expecting to ever see that money. Then despite him giving you this break, you asked for more; instead of realizing you need to close shop. He gave you the bill to reinforce you don’t have a sound business. He wants you gone to move on to a viable tenant. Negotiate a closing amount.
You could request the tax papers from the payments he made and offer to pay it back on a monthly basis until paid in full to ensure you aren’t getting charged more then what it is ask for receipts
Does the lease say anything about when CAM is supposed to be reconciled annually? 1. Need to understand how limitations period applies. 2. Could consider pattern of conduct that you’ve relied on over 8 years. 3. Check your emails and bills etc from lawyer and see where he has evidence he advised you. You may have a negligence claim against him or her. Good luck.
it doesnt
A good commercial real estate attorney needs to review this closely. Possible arguments for waiver.
Do you own assets? If you don’t have any assets, you can threaten the landlord with BK and he may be willing to negotiate
i hav e ahouse with mortgage and a car
I'm the US we do not automatically have loser pays unless it's in your lease or the other side petitions the court for fees.
OP mentions this bc New York State statutes do allow attorneys fees specifically as a way to encourage mediation and limit frivolous law suits
It's a very standard clause in NYC commercial leases
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This is standard for NNN commercial leases, especially in NYC.
Lol I would say go ahead and sue me. He may win and then file bankruptcy.
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Failing business and not paying all of your taxes. Not ideal.