Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

business rental issue

on a business property, i pay say

$5000 rent. now our lease states the

rent at $5000 with $200 increases

annually. However, our leasing

company has been accepting checks

for $5000 for 2 years now without

the increases. the building was just

sold and the new owner wants us to

pay the $5400 that would have been

due had the rent been increasing

annually. Because in this lease-year

they have accepted (they meaning

the previous company/owners) rent

checks for $5000, does that serve as

an agreement for this cycle(lease

year) to only pay that amount and

not the $5400 the new owner is

asking for? (just to be clear, our lease

obviously transferred to the new

owner as is for now)


Asked on 5/05/08, 3:21 pm

3 Answers from Attorneys

Mitchell Roth MW Roth, Professional Law Corporation

Re: business rental issue

Answered on previous post

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Answered on 5/06/08, 6:43 pm
Benjamin Berger Berger-Harrison, A Professional Corporation

Re: business rental issue

Unfortunately, there is no simple answer. You can argue that the parties modified the lease and that their past conduct is evidence of the modification.

However, what exactly was the lease modified to? Do you pay $5k per month until the end? Do you pay $5k per month until the landlord asks for a bump? If you have to pay the increase, can it only jump $200/month/year from this point forward or can it jump enough to make up for the increases that were not previously requested/enforced?

It may be hard for you to explain exactly what the effect of the modification was.

A court would probably try to come up with a reasonable interpretation of the written contract in light of the evidence that that parties modified it. What's reasonable? Who knows?

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Answered on 5/05/08, 3:43 pm
George Shers Law Offices of Georges H. Shers

Re: business rental issue

Mr. Berger is correct that it is difficult to predict what will happen. We are both presuming there is no commerical rent control at the business location. But remember, you are arguing with a new landlord about $2,400 [the difference for one full year] on rent of $60,000 a year [I assume it is $5,000 pe month and not per year], or less than 5%. If you do not pay him now or work out some sort of deal with him, then you know what will happen next year when he is allowed to raise the rent--that back "rent" wil be added into your new rent bill. It does not appear that your lease has a cap on it and that rents can be raised every year

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Answered on 5/05/08, 5:45 pm


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