Suing for Damages If a Tenant Breaks a Commercial Lease

If you own a commercial property and one of your tenants has broken the commercial lease, then you can begin lawsuit proceedings. Once a lease is signed it is a legally binding document, and there is no backing out of the lease unless both tenant and landlord enter a written agreement that rescinds the lease terms.

How to Sue for Damages for a Broken Commercial Lease

If a landlord wishes to sue for compensatory damages, he or she must follow the laws of their home state:

  • Once the commercial leasing contract is breached, the lease is terminated and lawsuit proceedings can go into effect.
  • However, in general upon the tenant terminating the lease, the landlord has a set period of time to list the damages made by the tenant to the leased property.
  • When suing for damages if you are the landlord/property owner, then you need to stipulate that the damages in which you are suing for include the full rent that is due.
  • When the tenant moves out early, he or she is inevitably giving the landlord the right to end the lease completely as well as to begin any lawsuit proceedings.

Filing a Lawsuit

A business attorney could further assist with lawsuit proceedings should a tenant break a commercial lease. It is important to speak with the business attorney so that you can ensure that you are following the proper protocol regarding commercial landlord-tenant relations.

As soon as you realize that the lease has been breached, you should contact a business attorney. Make sure that you discuss the initial terms of the lease with the attorney. Additionally, you should be sure to discern whether or not the tenant in your commercial property made the attempt to break the lease legally. If not, then make sure that you cite any clause within the lease that the tenant signed-off on, which gives you the right to sue.

Once you begin lawsuit proceedings, if the tenants have items in the space, then you have the right to lock their business out of the property. Additionally, as the landlord you have the right to request that the court have the tenant's company pay all of your legal fees. While suing for compensatory damages, you can also begin the eviction process if the tenants who have broken the lease are bold enough to still have their items in the rental space.

Getting Help

The fact remains that you have many options on how to handle this particular situation. It is just important that you consider retaining a lawyer first. With his expert advice, you can come to the best and quickest solution and ensure your rights are protected.

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