Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Washington
commercial tenant lease
Our lease expired. After a period of time we no longer paid rent but continued to occupy the property and conduct our business (pub) We never recieved a renewal option on our lease nor was rent ever requested. We are selling the business and now landowner is requesting back rent. Are we liable for this rent since we could not pay the old rent and never were asked to negotiate a new lease. The new tenant has negotiated a new lease agreement with the property owner.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: commercial tenant lease
Typically, after the term of the lease has expired the lease converts to a month-to-month lease and you continue to pay rent on that basis. Odds are that at this point your landlord just wants you out. But unless he had absolutely no anticipation of receiving additional rent (perhaps some evidence is his failure to request additional rent) a court may find that you do indeed owe rent for the months you occupied the premises after the expiration of the initial lease.
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