Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%

Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.

Commercial Leasing Law & StrategyKickerFeaturesSectionsNewsLJN Newsletters

Landlords' Withholding of Consent Under a Lease

By Melissa A. Semidey and Donna Hoelscher Suchan
February 26, 2013

Real estate practitioners are accustomed to seeing lease terms and conditions that are subject to a reasonableness standard. In fact, one of the most common revisions to real estate contracts and leases during negotiations is the repeated insertion of the word “reasonable” in front of the parties' rights and remedies. Yet we rarely examine the substantive effect of that word.

This article summarizes the results of a 50-state survey of case law addressing this issue. (Only 38 states and the District of Columbia have opined on this issue.) More specifically, these cases examine the authority for withholding of consent when a lease is silent as to the landlord's right to do so, as well as the criteria used to determine what constitutes a landlord's unreasonable withholding of consent. The courts' holdings on these issues vary significantly from state to state. While there are numerous contexts in which the reasonableness standard applies, this article focuses on cases regarding assignment and subleasing, and alterations to the leased premises, as these are the issues courts around the country have most commonly reviewed.

This premium content is locked for Entertainment Law & Finance subscribers only

  • Stay current on the latest information, rulings, regulations, and trends
  • Includes practical, must-have information on copyrights, royalties, AI, and more
  • Tap into expert guidance from top entertainment lawyers and experts

For enterprise-wide or corporate acess, please contact Customer Service at [email protected] or 877-256-2473

Read These Next
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough Image

There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.

Judge Rules Shaquille O'Neal Will Face Securities Lawsuit for Promotion, Sale of NFTs Image

A federal district court in Miami, FL, has ruled that former National Basketball Association star Shaquille O'Neal will have to face a lawsuit over his promotion of unregistered securities in the form of cryptocurrency tokens and that he was a "seller" of these unregistered securities.

Why So Many Great Lawyers Stink at Business Development and What Law Firms Are Doing About It Image

Why is it that those who are best skilled at advocating for others are ill-equipped at advocating for their own skills and what to do about it?

Blockchain Domains: New Developments for Brand Owners Image

Blockchain domain names offer decentralized alternatives to traditional DNS-based domain names, promising enhanced security, privacy and censorship resistance. However, these benefits come with significant challenges, particularly for brand owners seeking to protect their trademarks in these new digital spaces.

'Insurable Interest' and the Scope of First-Party Coverage Image

This article reviews the fundamental underpinnings of the concept of insurable interest, and certain recent cases that have grappled with the scope of insurable interest and have articulated a more meaningful application of the concept to claims under first-party property policies.