February 2009
inside this issue
Recent Court Rulings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
➤ Owner Not Liable for Tenant’s Pet
➤ Statute of Frauds Not Applicable
to One-Year Lease
➤ Owner Can Withhold Consent
to Assign
Q&A: Arbitration Has Its Downsides. . . 7
Dos & Don’ts: Instruct Staff to Look
for and Remove Discarded Gum. . . . . . . 7
Renewing Tenants Seek
Short-Term Leases
A combination of the owner’s need to
maintain cash flow and the tenant’s
need to keep options open during a volatile market is creating a popular new
trend: short-term lease renewals.
In cities across the United States,
short-term lease renewals are the “in”
move for tenants, building owners,
and businesses of all types. The trend
highlights the tenant’s reluctance to
lock itself into a long-term commitment without actually knowing what
its future space requirements will be.
On the other side, unusually cooperative owners are split between those anxiously waiting for the marketplace to
rebound to the days of strong rent rates
and those who are essentially willing to
do whatever it takes to make sure that
they minimize vacancy rates.
From a practical standpoint for tenants, there’s a strong possibility that the
rental rates could decline even further,
which means that short-term leases
offer the flexibility to take advantage of
great deals that otherwise wouldn’t be
available to those locked into long-term
leases.
fe ature
How to Handle Tenant’s Abandoned
Personal Property
One of the unfortunate realities of the current market is that struggling
tenants may abandon their space. And in some cases, they may create
an even bigger headache by leaving personal property behind. Like
most property managers, you probably see this as a small nuisance
and assume that because the personal property is left in your space,
you can do whatever you want with it. But that’s not true, warns New
Jersey real estate attorney Mark Morfopoulos. Before you remove the
tenant’s property, you have a legal responsibility to do the following:
■ Determine whether the tenant has actually abandoned the space;
■ Determine whether the owner has the present right to re-enter
the premises and take possession of the property;
■ Determine if the personal property abandoned has other liens or
security interests attached to it; and
■ Comply with any and all laws that dictate how and when you can
dispose of the tenant’s personal property.
(continued on p. 2)
Lien Waivers
Get 15 Protections if Tenant
Requests Landlord’s Lien Waiver
Because tenants often seek financing to help them run their businesses, you probably get several requests from tenants each month for a
landlord’s lien waiver. Without the lien waiver, a tenant’s lender may
refuse to go through with the loan, or an equipment lessor may refuse
to lease expensive equipment to the tenant.
A lien waiver typically states that the owner agrees to waive a
valuable right—that is, the right to take possession of the tenant’s personal property if it doesn’t pay its rent. If you agree to a lien waiver
and the tenant defaults on its loan or under its equipment lease, the
lender or equipment lessor can take over the tenant’s personal property without fear that you’ll stop it from doing so or that you’ll claim
that you have superior rights to that property.
Typically, a tenant will give you its lender’s or equipment lessor’s
form of lien waiver for the owner to sign. But you should reject that
form because it is likely to give the owner few, if any, protections and
(continued on p. 5)
2
C o m m e r c i a l P r o p e r t y M a n a g e m e n t i n s i d e r ® Board of Advisors
Norman D. Bates, Esq.
Liability Consultants, Inc.
Bolton, MA
James B. McLean
Daniel J. Flynn & Co., Inc.
Quincy, MA
Pilar L. Bosch, Esq.
Baker & McKenzie, LLP
Miami, FL
Frederick J. Meno,
Stuart A. Frank, Esq.
Hinman, Howard &
Kattell, LLP
Syracuse, NY
John N. Gallagher, CPM
Polinger Shannon &
Luchs Company
Chevy Chase, MD
Gary A. Goodman, Esq.
Sonnenschein Nath &
Rosenthal, LLP
New York, NY
Howard Gordon, Esq.
Goodrich Mgmt. Corp.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ
Harvey M. Haber, QC
Goldman Sloan Nash
& Haber
Toronto, ON, Canada
CPM, RPA, CSM
Woodmont Co.
Ft. Worth, TX
Stephen J. Messinger, Esq.
Minden Gross LLP
Toronto, ON, Canada
Michael W. Minns
Dayton Mall
Dayton, OH
Jeffrey A. Moerdler, Esq.
Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris
Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.
New York, NY
Peter D. Morris, SCSM, SCMD
Colliers International
Los Angeles, CA
Richard F. Muhlebach,
CPM, CSM, CRE
Kennedy Wilson
Properties
Bellevue, WA
Gerard Harris
Neil T. Neumark, Esq.
George Comfort & Sons, Inc. Schwartz Cooper
New York, NY
Chartered
Chicago, IL
Julie Jones, SCSM, SCMD
General Growth
Marc L. Ripp, Esq.
Properties, Inc.
Mack-Cali Realty Corp.
Chicago IL
Paramus, NJ
Kenneth S. Lamy
Thomas F. Stewart, Esq.
The Lamy Group, Ltd.
Downey Brand LLP
Mandeville, LA
Sacramento, CA
Editor: Arthur Guess
Executive Editor: Heather Ogilvie
Director of Production: Kathryn Homenick
Director of Operations: Michael Koplin
VP and Managing Director: Mark Fried
Editorial Director: Anita Rosepka
Commercial Property Management Insider (ISSN 10897364) is published by Vendome Group, LLC, 149 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010-6823.
Volume 13, Issue 4
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February 2009
Abandoned Personal Property (continued from p. 1)
While the laws governing the tenant’s abandonment of its space
and the handling of its personal property after abandonment may
vary from state to state, there are some general steps to take as soon
as you suspect abandonment and come into possession of personal
property left behind by a tenant. As always, before taking any action,
consult your attorney to find out what your state’s laws require.
Determining Abandonment
If you suspect that your tenant has abandoned the space and discover
that personal property has been left behind, before you do anything
with it, you first have to determine whether the tenant has actually
abandoned the space.
Most owners and property managers incorrectly believe that abandonment has occurred if the tenant has moved all or some of its property from the space without notice. However, non-use alone is not enough.
Courts have usually required that the owner do more than assume
abandonment because the tenant’s actions suggest that it intended to
give up its right to possession of the space, says Morfopoulos.
The legal requirements present a problem for owners and managers because in most abandonment cases, tenants leave in the night
without notice, and there’s no opportunity to speak with them for
purposes of determining intent. As a result, you’ll have to make the
initial assessment with the clues that the tenant has—or hasn’t—left.
For example, if the tenant suddenly ceases communication and
quits paying rent, that may be a good indication that abandonment
may have occurred. Also, in addition to nonpayment and lack of communication, if upon inspecting the space, you discover that the tenant
has removed from the premises what a reasonable person would deem
valuable property necessary to operate its business (computers, phone
systems, etc.), that may also be a good sign that your tenant has abandoned the space.
On the other hand, in some cases, tenants leave their space and
continue to pay rent, which usually defeats a claim that a tenant has
abandoned its space, unless the lease expressly states otherwise. In a
retail leasing situation, for example, many owners have a “going dark”
prohibition, and the abandonment of the space, without more, may be
an event of default and give the owner the option to seek eviction.
Given that the goal is to have a paying tenant, you may decide to
collect rent as long as the tenant continues to pay and then enforce
the remedies offered in your lease once the payments stop, says Morfopoulos. This may be the easiest option when the premises is office
space and the “dark” space doesn’t affect other tenants. But in the
interim, if you feel strongly that your tenant has more than likely
abandoned the space, you should start preparing to take legal possession and to deal with the personal property issue and marketing
efforts necessary to refill the space.
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February 2009
3
C o m m e r c i a l P r o p e r t y M a n a g e m e n t i n s i d e r ® Check lease. The first place to
look to see whether a tenant has
abandoned the space is your lease.
The parties may have specifically
listed in the lease the circumstances that constitute abandonment.
What does the lease say with
regard to the owner’s right of possession and the owner’s right to
dispose of, or store, personal property left behind?
Check state law for “self-help”
right. Depending on your state’s
law, the owner could avail itself of
peaceable re-entry, or “self-help,”
rights. However, these rights do
not include the right to obtain possession, in and of itself.
If the tenant abandons the
premises but continues to pay
rent, check whether the self-help
right still applies. Otherwise, an
owner or property manager may
be open to charges that he has
unlawfully entered the space and
“converted”—that is, stolen—the
tenant’s property.
Obtain court order. If the situation is not considered abandonment under the lease, or if your
state law does not give the owner
self-help rights, the next step is to
obtain a court order giving the
owner possession. You must take
this step before you start the process of disposing of the tenant’s
property—unless the continued
presence of such items causes a
danger to your property or other
tenants occupying your building.
Handling Tenant’s Personal
Property
If the space has been abandoned,
it’s time to deal with the tenant’s
personal property. You can’t just
throw it away or immediately sell it
to the highest bidder, warns Morfopoulos. In general, after reviewing the laws applicable to the
abandonment of personal property
in your state, you’ll have to do the
following:
Determine property interests.
Make diligent efforts to ascertain
whether anyone other than the
tenant has an interest in the property left behind. Perform a lien
search to make sure that there are
no third parties that have a security interest in the tenant’s personal property, says Morfopoulos.
He also recommends making the
search not only in the state where
the property is located, but also in
the state where the debtor/tenant is
organized.
Take possession of personal
property. You can take possession
of the property after giving notice
to the tenant and any third parties that have a valid interest in
the personal property. State law
might require you to wait a certain
amount of time (such as 10 days)
after giving notice before taking
possession.
Store personal property. After
notice is given to the tenant and
any interested third parties, you
should store the tenant’s personal
property in a safe place and treat
it with reasonable care. In most
cases, if you act reasonably, you
probably won’t be responsible to
the tenant for any loss or damage
not caused by your negligence or
deliberate acts.
If you choose to store the personal property in the tenant’s
space, you can probably charge
storage fees equivalent to the rent.
But if you decide to move the
property to a commercial storage
company’s space, you can charge
for the actual reasonable costs of
the storage and the moving costs
associated with transporting the
personal property.
Collect fees if tenant retrieves
property. In some cases, the tenant will respond to your notice
and tell you that it will remove the
personal property from the space
or storage facility within the time
frame given in the notice. If the
tenant retrieves its belongings on
time, before you release the personal property, you may be able
to collect the cost of the storage
and any other costs incurred under
the lease agreement. Although an
owner can always sue a tenant to
recoup such costs after the fact, an
owner’s ability to refuse a tenant’s
request to release personal property depends on what the lease says
and whether the owner has a lien
on the personal property that is
superior to any other lien.
Prepare for sale in case tenant
fails to retrieve or pay fees. Even
when the tenant or third-party
lien-holder responds to the notice
and agrees to retrieve its property,
there’s always the possibility that
it won’t show up. And even if it
shows up, it might not want to pay
the required fees. If this happens,
you’ll probably be able to declare
the property abandoned and sell it.
Send out notice of sale. Before
you sell the property, your state
law may require you to mail a
notice of the sale to the tenant and
any other party claiming an interest in the tenant’s personal property, to their last known address. Pay
attention to your state’s requirements, as most are very specific
about how and when the notices
must be delivered (for example, by
certified or registered mail and 10
days before the sale).
If, to determine whether notice
must be given, your state sets a
threshold amount in the value of
the items left behind, you should
(continued on p. 4)
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4
C o m m e r c i a l P r o p e r t y M a n a g e m e n t i n s i d e r ® Abandoned Personal
Property (continued from p. 3)
be careful not to undervalue the
items, says Morfopoulos. The
sale could later be challenged by
a tenant or other party having
an interest in the property. Also,
depending on the laws of your particular state, notice may not be
required to the tenant, but it may
still be required to third parties
who have an interest in the property if: (1) the lease provides that the
personal property is deemed abandoned if a tenant abandons the
premises; and (2) the tenant leaves
such property within the space it
abandoned.
Conduct sale. After timely
notices have been sent to all interested parties, you may conduct a
public sale in a reasonable manner.
As a general rule, as long as you
are acting in good faith, you can
become a purchaser of the personal
property sold at the sale. You can
also dispose of any property that
was not bid on or sold at the sale.
Distribute proceeds of sale.
Upon completion of the sale, you
may be required to apply the proceeds in the following order:
■ To the reasonable expenses
related to holding and selling or
disposing of the property, including any advertising costs;
■ To the satisfaction of any
recorded security interests;
■ To the satisfaction of any
amounts due from the tenant to you
for rent or other applicable fees;
■ To the court, if there’s a
remaining balance, within a predetermined amount of time (such as
30 days) of the sale. The court will
hold the balance for a certain period of time (such as six months).
If the balance is not claimed by
the owner within that time, it will
more than likely become property of the state. In some states, if
the property is abandoned without any valid claim by a tenant or
third party, the owner may be able
to retain the remaining balance.
February 2009
Seek damages from tenant or
third party where appropriate. If the
removal of the tenant’s personal
property damaged your space, or
the personal property has no value
and you need to get rid of it and
incur disposal charges, you should
be entitled to seek damages from
the tenant. You may even be entitled to damages from a third-party
lien-holder that damages the premises when it removes the items.
Look to your lease, any lien waivers applicable to third-party lenders or equipment lessors, and state
law for guidance on this issue.
Insider Source
Mark Morfopoulos, Esq.: Real Estate Attorney, Meislik & Meislik, 66 Park St., Montclair,
NJ, 07042; (973) 783-3000; mmorfopoulos
@meislik.com.
For More Information…
Visit Us Online:
www.commercialproperty
insider.net
Search Our Web Site by Key Words:
abandonment; disposal of personal
property; self-help right
recent court rulings
➤ Owner Not Liable for Tenant’s Pet
Facts: A tenant’s dog attacked and severely injured a
young child on the premises. The child’s parent sued
the dog’s owner and won a substantial award, and
later attempted to sue the building’s owner for allegedly not evicting the tenant or forcing him to get rid
of his dog. The court ruled in favor of the owner, and
the parent appealed.
Decision: A District of Columbia appeals court
upheld the lower court’s decision and ruled in favor of
the building owner.
Reasoning: The court acknowledged that a property
owner has a duty to exercise reasonable care to cure a
dangerous condition if: (1) he has actual or “constructive” notice of the condition; and (2) he has the right
to exercise control over the condition.
In this case, the owner did have notice of the dog’s
presence on the premises, but because the lease did
not contain a “no-pets” clause, the owner had no legal
authority to compel the tenant to remove the dog.
■
Armentha Campbell v. Raymon Noble, December 2008
➤ Statute of Frauds Not Applicable
to One-Year Lease
Facts: A tenant and an owner entered into a one-year
lease. The tenant paid rent for three months and then
abandoned the property, arguing that, according to
the statute of frauds, the lease was invalid because it
lacked a property description. The owner successfully
sued in small claims court for the unpaid rent, and
the tenant appealed. The trial court ruled in favor of
the owner, and the tenant appealed.
Decision: A Georgia appeals court ruled in favor of
the owner.
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February 2009
Reasoning: The court noted that the statute of frauds
does require leases to describe the property. However, the statute of frauds also only applies to leases in
excess of one year. The lease in this case was for only
one year, so the statute of frauds description requirement does not apply.
■
5
C o m m e r c i a l P r o p e r t y M a n a g e m e n t i n s i d e r ® Fields v. Lanier, November 2008
➤ Owner Can Withhold Consent
to Assign
Facts: After a tenant negotiated the sale of its lease
and business to a third party, it asked the owner for
consent to assign the lease. The owner refused, and
the tenant sued, alleging that the owner unreasonably
Lien Waivers (continued from p. 1)
could take away important rights
that the owner will want to keep.
Instead, if the owner agrees to sign
a lien waiver (or the lease requires
the owner to do so), it’s better to
ask the owner’s attorney to prepare
your own form that will protect the
owner’s interests, advises New Jersey attorney Marc L. Ripp.
As we’ll explain later, the form
you prepare shouldn’t be called a
landlord’s lien waiver, but a “subordination of landlord’s lien” or a
“lien subordination agreement.”
With Ripp’s help, we’ll give you
a checklist of 15 protections to
include in the lien subordination
agreement. Many of these protections will be missing from a lender’s or equipment lessor’s form of
lien waiver, so ask your owner’s
attorney to include them in a lien
subordination agreement appropriate to your situation.
15 Protections for Lien
Subordination Agreement
❑ Don’t waive your lien; subordinate it. Don’t agree to waive
your lien on the tenant’s personal
property, says Ripp. Instead, agree
withheld consent. The trial court ruled in favor of the
tenant, and the owner appealed.
Decision: A California appeals court reversed the trial
court’s decision and ruled in favor of the owner.
Reasoning: The law required that an owner’s decision to withhold consent be based on a reasonable
standard. The trial court held that a lease term giving the owner “sole discretion” did not subject the
owner’s decision to any standard, and therefore, conflicted with the law. The appeals court disagreed and
held that the sole discretion standard was permitted
as long as the provision was freely negotiated and not
illegal, which was the case here.
■
Nevada Atlantic Corp. v. WREC Lido Venture, LLC, December
2008
only that you’ll “subordinate” (or
make secondary) your lien to that
of the tenant’s lender or equipment lessor, says Ripp. This way,
you’ll still have the right to go after
the tenant’s personal property if
it doesn’t pay its rent. You’ll just
have to wait in line behind the tenant’s lender or equipment lessor.
❑ Define “personal property” narrowly. Define the tenant’s “personal property” within
narrow limits. That is, have the
term cover only easily removed
personal property (or, in the case
of an equipment lessor, the leased
equipment)—not fixtures or
improvements affixed to the space,
says Ripp. Otherwise, if the tenant
defaults under its loan agreement,
the tenant’s lender or equipment
lessor could end up ripping out
those fixtures, causing severe damage to the space.
❑ Don’t waive or subordinate your enforcement rights.
Don’t waive or subordinate your
legal right to enforce a judgment
against the tenant, says Ripp. For
instance, if you sue the tenant
and win, you should have primary access to the tenant’s personal
property if it doesn’t pay you the
awarded damages.
❑ Give lender limited access
to tenant’s space to remove
personal property. If the tenant
defaults on its loan agreement or
equipment lease, you wouldn’t
want the lender or equipment lessor entering the tenant’s space
after business hours, unannounced
and unsupervised. So Ripp advises
that you give the lender or equipment lessor the right to enter the
tenant’s space, but only if:
■ The entry occurs during business hours;
■ The lender or equipment
lessor gives you advance written
notice; and
■ The lender or equipment lessor is accompanied by one of your
representatives.
❑ Make lender responsible
for repairing damage. If the lender or equipment lessor damages
the tenant’s space while removing the personal property, make
it responsible for repairing the
damage, says Ripp. You shouldn’t
have to pay for those repairs. If the
lender or equipment lessor doesn’t
(continued on p. 6)
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6
C o m m e r c i a l P r o p e r t y M a n a g e m e n t i n s i d e r ® Lien Waivers (continued from p. 5)
make the repairs, do them yourself, at its expense.
❑ Condition subordination
on personal property’s proper
placement. Agree to subordinate
your lien only if the tenant places
its personal property in the space
in a manner that won’t cause any
structural or other damage to the
space and the building or center,
says Ripp. That should help reduce
the risk that the lender or equipment lessor will damage the tenant’s space during the property
removal process.
❑ Require lender to indemnify you. Require the lender or
equipment lessor to indemnify you
against any claims arising directly
or indirectly from the removal of
the tenant’s personal property from
the space, says Ripp. That way,
the lender or equipment lessor will
defend and reimburse you if, for
example, a third party is injured
during the property removal process and sues you for damages.
❑ Require financing statements’ termination at lease
end. When the lease ends, have
the lender or equipment lessor terminate the financing documents
it recorded to notify third parties
of its lien on the tenant’s property,
says Ripp.
❑ Don’t let lender record lien
subordination agreement. Don’t
let the lender or equipment lessor
publicly record the lien subordination agreement, says Ripp. Once
an agreement is recorded, third
parties can find out that you’ve
subordinated your lien, and that
could cause you problems if you
later apply for a loan. Worse yet,
when the lease or the tenant’s loan
ends, the tenant’s lender may drag
its feet in removing the lien subordination agreement from the public record.
❑ Make lender pay if personal property isn’t removed by
lease end. If the tenant defaults
on its loan, you’ll want the lender
or equipment lessor to remove the
tenant’s personal property before
the lease ends. If it doesn’t finish
removing that property in time,
make it pay a “use and occupancy” fee, says Ripp. The fee should
be equal to the amount of holdover
rent then due, he advises.
❑ Make tenant responsible
for holdover rent, despite lender
fee. Even if the lender or equipment lessor ends up paying a fee
for not removing the personal
property before the lease ends,
keep the tenant on the hook for
holdover rent, too, says Ripp.
❑ Get right to keep, discard,
or store remaining property.
You don’t want the tenant’s personal property remaining in the
space after its lease ends because
you may have a new tenant waiting
to move into the space. So if the
lender or equipment lessor hasn’t
removed the tenant’s personal
property within, for example, five
days after the lease ends, have the
lender or equipment lessor agree
that you may: (1) deem the property abandoned and keep it without paying for it; (2) throw out the
remaining property at the lender’s
or equipment lessor’s cost; or (3)
store the remaining property at the
lender’s or equipment lessor’s sole
risk and cost.
❑ Make tenant pay for lien
subordination agreement.
Require the tenant to pay your
attorney’s fees for drafting and
negotiating the lien subordination
agreement. You’re doing the tenant
February 2009
a favor by subordinating your lien
so that it can get financing. You
shouldn’t also have to foot the bill
for the agreement.
❑ Get tenant and lender to
sign lien subordination agreement. Because the lien subordination agreement sets out certain
requirements for the tenant and
the lender or equipment lessor,
you’ll want both of them to sign
the agreement, says Ripp. Without
their signatures, they’re not obligated to carry out those requirements.
❑ Get guarantor to confirm
its obligations. You don’t want
the tenant’s guarantor claiming
that by subordinating your lien
on the tenant’s personal property,
you’re also reducing the guarantor’s liability to you under the
guaranty. Instead, require the
guarantor to confirm that its obligations under the guaranty will
continue and that the lien subordination agreement won’t limit
or end your protections under the
guaranty, says Ripp. Then have
the guarantor sign the lien subordination agreement.
Practical Pointer: Attach a
form of the lien subordination agreement to your lease, as an exhibit.
This way, the tenant will know that
it has to use your form if it needs a
lien waiver.
Insider Source
Marc L. Ripp, Esq.: Sr. Assoc. General
Counsel, Mack-Cali Realty Corp., Mack-Cali
Centre II, 650 From Rd., Ste. 220, Paramus,
NJ 07652-3517; (201) 967-0324; mripp@
mack-cali.com.
For More Information…
Visit Us Online:
www.commercialproperty
insider.net
Search Our Web Site by Key Words:
lien waiver; lien subordination
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February 2009
C o m m e r c i a l P r o p e r t y M a n a g e m e n t i n s i d e r ® 7
Q&A
The INSIDER welcomes questions and comments from subscribers. You can send your questions via (1) email [email protected];
(2) fax (212) 228-1308; or (3) mail to Arthur Guess, Editor, Vendome Group, LLC, 149 Fifth Ave., 10th Fl., New York, NY 10010.
Arbitration Has Its Downsides
Q
My lease form says that any unresolved disputes
with a tenant will be resolved in court. But I’ve
heard that arbitration is cheaper and faster than litigation. Should I revise my lease form to require the
use of arbitration instead of litigation to resolve leasing disputes?
A
No, says New York attorney Gary A. Goodman, unless you’re in an area where the courts
have very long delays or heavily favor tenants.
Although arbitration may work well in resolving certain types of disputes, it often isn’t suited for resolving leasing disputes, he says.
One of the many pitfalls of arbitration is that there’s
no guarantee you’ll get an arbitrator who’s familiar
with leasing issues, says Goodman. Also, you generally can’t appeal an arbitrator’s decision. So a very
important issue could be left in the hands of an arbitrator, whose decision can’t be reviewed by a court, he
explains. And even if the arbitrator’s decision seems
inconsistent with the law, you’re stuck with it, he warns.
Arbitration can also be costly. For instance, in
addition to paying your attorney, you must pay a significant fee to the arbitration association and the arbitrator, says Goodman. And arbitration’s filing fees
can be much higher than court fees, he adds.
Also, arbitration clauses may encourage disputes,
especially when small tenants are involved, Goodman
says. Many small tenants assume that arbitration is
cheaper and faster than litigation, he explains. So
they’re more likely to take formal action against you
if they know a dispute will go to arbitration.
There are only a few leasing situations in which
you may want to have a dispute resolved by someone
other than a judge, Goodman points out. For example, you may want a dispute over market-rate rent for
a lease renewal to be resolved by one to three brokers, or a construction dispute to be resolved by an
architect or engineer, he notes. (If you choose to use
arbitration in such situations, make sure you’re in a
state where you can get a court to promptly enforce
the arbitrator’s decision, he adds. Most—but not
all—states have such laws.) But don’t require arbitration when you have a monetary default, especially if
the tenant doesn’t pay its minimum rent, he cautions.
Many areas offer special “summary” proceedings in
a court to settle rent disputes—and they can give you
fast relief, he explains.
Insider Source
Gary A. Goodman, Esq.: Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP,
1221 Ave. of the Americas, 24th Fl., New York, NY 10020; (212) 7686916; [email protected].
Dos & Don’ts
Staff to Look for and
✓ Instruct
Remove Discarded Gum
pers’ safety, which may drive away both shoppers and
tenants.
Instruct your maintenance staff to continually look
for and remove any discarded gum they see on your
center’s sidewalks, stairs, benches, and so on, suggests New York property manager Kevin M. Fogel.
Aside from being unsightly, gum is a nuisance for
anyone who sits or steps in it. Also, if shoppers or a
tenant’s employees step in gum outside your center,
they may end up tracking it inside, onto your center’s
floor, carpet, or rubber mats, from which it will be
difficult to remove, he says. And gum on the ground
or steps can create trip-and-fall hazards, especially
for the elderly. For example, an elderly shopper’s cane
could get stuck in gum, which could cause her to fall.
Bottom line: The presence of discarded gum around
your center can give the impression that you don’t
care about your center’s appearance or your shop-
There are numerous methods that can be used to
remove gum, including chemicals, power washing,
scraping, freezing, sand blasting, burning, and highpressure steaming, notes Fogel. The best method to
use depends on the extent of the gum problem, where
the gum is located, and the type of surface it’s on. In
most cases, your maintenance staff should be able to
remove any gum at your center, he says. But if your
center has an extensive or difficult gum problem, you
should consider hiring a professional cleaning company that’s experienced in gum removal or a company
that specializes in gum removal, he adds.
Insider Source
Kevin M. Fogel: President, KMF Property Group, Inc., 49 Irma Dr.,
Oceanside, NY 11572; (516) 536-5881; kfogel@kmfpropertygroup.
com; www.kmfpropertygroup.com.
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