Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Iowa

I rent a commercial space that is shared with my landlord and my retail business. My business does not have access to a public bathroom, to our customers, only during their business hours. The bathroom is located on their side of the building and there is no way to get to it, unless they are open. We are open longer than they are and on Saturdays, and they said they did not have to provide access to the public only the employees. The type of business I operate must be open on Saturday or there is no business.

I checked the code and it says their has to be access to a bathroom during business hours for a retail store. However they put in our lease that the bathrooms are only available during their business hours?

Not having a public bathroom or water facilities has really hurt my business, I need water and I need a bathroom! Is it legal for them to lease me a retail space without a bathroom? Can I end my lease?


Asked on 9/16/13, 12:07 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Robert Luedeman solo practitioner

They would probably argue that when you leased the property you should have known that the leased property might not meet your particular legal requirements. I do not think they're obliged to provide those accommodations. Whether it is sufficient to terminate your lease would depend on the terms of the lease which I do not see here.

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Answered on 9/28/13, 9:23 am


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