Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in New Jersey

commercial warehouse lockout NJ

Our landlord still owes us several thousand for Jan/feb gas and electric that another tenant shares on our meter.(another words we have comingled utilities unbeknownst to us when we signed the lease) We rent 6000 sq ft and we decided to move to a new warehouse. We did not pay April rent because we have outstanding issues with the utilities still not being paid as well as other things such as not having access to our own electric panel and being told we can't have things as simple as small containers of glue or a small can of paint thinner in our warehouse. (the adjoing tenant is an air/soil testing place and can't have any petroleum product in the building--of course they moved in after us and now everything petroleum-based the landlord considers ''hazardous''. )

When the landlord found out we were moving our stuff out, he locked us out April 29, had all our vehicles and trailers towed even though we were onsite to move them(the police said they couldn't help us as its a civil matter and just watched).

What rights do we have as tenants?


Asked on 5/01/09, 3:16 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
John Corbett Corbett Law Firm LLC

Re: commercial warehouse lockout NJ

The easy answer is that you have the rights that the lease provides. You didn't state whether you still had property in the premises which will strongly influence how the situation should be handled.

You should tally the damages that you have on account of the utilities and review the matter with a lawyer. A critical issue will be to determine who breached the lease. With luck, there will be something in the lease that will establish that the breach was by the landlord and not you. Then, if you are owed money, you can consider whether or not to sue.

My firm handles matters of this type, however it may be easier for you to work with a lawyer whose office is closer to you. (You did not give your Zip code. My firm is in Marlton.)

See also: http://info.corbettlaw.net/lawguru.htm

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Answered on 5/01/09, 9:49 am


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