COVID-19 and Lease Negotiations: Early Termination Provisions

During the COVID-19 pandemic, some tenants were able to negotiate termination agreements with their landlords. But even though a landlord may agree to terminate a lease to regain control of a defaulting tenant's space without costly and lengthy litigation, typically a defaulting tenant that otherwise has no contractual right to terminate its lease will be in a much weaker bargaining position with respect to the conditions for termination.

8 minute read January 01, 2022 at 12:09 AM
By
Ann E. Ryan and Adrienne B. Koch
COVID-19 and Lease Negotiations: Early Termination Provisions

"Contracts are like hearts, they're made to be broken," says a smirking Michael Keaton, playing Ray Kroc in the movie The Founder. As many tenants discovered during the COVID-19 pandemic, this philosophy is not true of commercial leases.

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