Law Offices of Alexander Fotopoulos

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NY and NJ Attorney Alex Fotopoulos renews his opinion about whether or not businesses should skip paying their rent.

Industry: Legal Services

Almost 5 months into the Pandemic, where do you stand on your business rent?

New York, NY (PRUnderground) August 3rd, 2020

It was back in April when the Coronavirus crisis just started that businesses were asking their lawyers whether they can skip rent after being shut down across the nation in March.  That month, a national chain sent a letter to their landlords that they would not be paying their rent setting off a flurry of disputes between landlords and tenants everywhere.

In an April 1 opinion article on Fox Business, NY and NJ Attorney Alex Fotopoulos discussed whether businesses should skip rent in April – https://www.foxbusiness.com/real-estate/coronavirus-businesses-skip-rent-april .  Since then, there have been a number of lawsuits highlighting the troubles of both landlords and tenants, most notably in New York City where rents can be as high as a million dollars a month.  Two large chains are involved in high profile litigation defining what kind of defenses a tenant may have against a landlord – and what kind of rent may be demanded by landlord when businesses are forced to shut down.

These developments highlight the recommendation for both landlords and tenants to communicate and work together to get through this pandemic.  Tenants may feel strongly that they shouldn’t have to pay rent and landlords equally oppose those views but leaving it up to the Court to make that decision will likely not make either party happy.    Attorney Alex Fotopoulos stresses that both landlord and Tenant must understand how intertwined their businesses are and work out a deal, even if it means paying a third party mediator in order to come to a resolution.  “Both a landlord and a tenant’s survival in this pandemic depends on each of them working together for mutual benefit,” Fotopoulos said, “The future of the economy depends on both parties succeeding.”

Here are some major developments between landlords and tenants that has happened since April 2020:

South Florida chain of retail stores gets sued by their landlord to enforce payment of rent.  See the complaint at https://www.scribd.com/document/460307280/Landlords-sue-for-rent-despite-Coronavirus-emergency-Ross-Stores-in-Florida.

Retail Chain sues their landlord to keep leases in NYC and get relief from rent.  See the complaint at https://www.scribd.com/document/470465239/Gap-Stores-Sues-for-Relief-on-Rent-in-NYC.

Large retail chain sues to get rent relief from one million dollar monthly rent.  See complaint at https://www.scribd.com/document/470465612/Victoria-Secret-Sues-Landlord-for-Relief-From-Rent-Due-to-Coronavirus.  And here is the Landlord’s response and counter-claims against that retail chain.  See response at https://www.scribd.com/document/470465763/Landlord-Response-to-Victoria-Secret-Complaint.

Large office co-working space denies rent relief to tenants and lawyer at law firm sends demand letter that the “20 plus” LLCs the firm is representing are entitled to get deferrals or refunds.  See letter to co-working space here – https://www.scribd.com/document/470466032/Wework-Tenants-Send-Demand-Letter-for-Rent-Relief.

Regular updates to these developments may be received by submitting your e-mail address to https://mailchi.mp/18e69fc1fb87/subscribe

About Law Offices of Alexander Fotopoulos

Attorney Alex Fotopoulos is a sole practitioner in New York City and New Jersey. His practice emphasizes litigation in general business, employment law and personal injury. He acts as in-house counsel to a number of businesses and start-ups in New York and New Jersey. Profile at https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-fotopoulos-3708186/

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