Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Virginia

I am a small retail business owner currently under a lease in a strip mall. I opened Aug '08 and my business has continued to improve, however, I am not able to pay the rent in full each month due to not enough sales, still paying start-up expenses, etc. I requested a rent reduction and was denied. The customer service of the management firm has not been very good and some of them are just rude. I would just like to get out of my lease because I have used all our personal funds to pay the rent plus the ever increasing CAM, Tax & Insurance payments that are added to it. I report my gross sales to them each month so they know that I have a going concern. There is still 1 year and 4 months left on the lease. What can I do to get out and not shut my business down?


Asked on 4/09/10, 2:03 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

It would appear that your only options under this commercial lease would be

to negotiate either a reduction in the rent or an early termination of this lease with the landlord. (You may need to speak with someone higher up in the management chain than the people you've been dealing with.)

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Answered on 4/15/10, 7:15 am


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