Features

Short-Term Leases Can Create Value Uncertainty
When executives aren't sure what normal will look like in where employees work, they can't tell how much office space they need. While some sectors of commercial real estate are stable in terms of tenants, others are a question. That's leading to some pushing for shorter-term leases — ironically, both by tenants and some owners — as well as headaches for underwriting as the predictability of tenancy is up in the air.
Features

Common Issues In Commercial Property Bankruptcies
As the commercial real estate market undergoes seismic shifts, companies may find themselves in situations where their tenant or their landlord has filed for bankruptcy protection. Questions then quickly arise, such as if and how a landlord may evict a bankrupt tenant, whether a bankrupt tenant may remain as a lessee and continue to occupy the premises, and how to measure damages for a landlord in this situation, both before bankruptcy and going forward post-petition.
Features

Strategies and Drafting Techniques for Loan Workouts and Enforcement In 2022
A series of strategies and drafting techniques relevant to commercial real estate loan workouts and enforcement. This article isn't a "how-to" primer on loan enforcement or restructuring the distressed loan, it identifies some of the current solutions and insights that have been observed, implemented and proposed during this pandemic-impacted workout cycle.
Features

Why Commercial Insurance Prices Are Rising
Commercial insurance prices are rising as increased costs from climate change, the supply chain crisis and inflation take hold, Westchester, a commercial property, and casualty insurance underwriter, said in a new report.
Features

Tenth Circuit: Government COVID Closure Orders Do Not Trigger Coverage for Loss of Business Income
In a recent case, the Tenth Circuit joined other circuits in holding that government closure orders due to the COVID-19 pandemic do not trigger insurance coverage for loss of business income, reasoning that the temporary inability to use property caused by COVID shutdown orders doesn't involve a covered physical loss of property.
Features

Pros and Cons of Master Leases
Section 365 of the Bankruptcy Code grants debtors the ability to assume or reject any executory contract or unexpired lease. Debtors must assume or reject a lease in its entirety and are not free under Section 365 to assume only favorable provisions of a lease. Courts, however, have consistently held that they will not find a multi-property master lease to be a unitary lease merely because such properties are demised in a single document.
Features

Pleading Alter Ego Liability In Commercial Lease Disputes
The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged commercial landlords to rely on various legal theories to protect their legitimate rights. As federal, state and local governments enact laws to protect tenants from evictions and/or the enforcement of personal lease guarantees, a landlord's counsel must seek avenues to press its clients' rights against any entity who may be liable for outstanding rent arrears due and owing under a commercial lease.
Features

Five Things Law Firm Leaders Need To Do As People Return to the Office
While we all look forward to returning to normal, the normal we left in early 2020 remains elusive. For those who are leading teams (such as executive committees, practice and industry groups, client teams, administrative departments, and firm committees), the struggle is more complex.
Features

COVID-19 and Lease Negotiations: Tenant Security
The pandemic has highlighted vulnerabilities in two of the most popular forms of tenant security — guaranties and cash security deposits. This article examines the impact of the pandemic on each of those types of security and offers some suggestions for landlords going forward.
Features

Selective Reassessment of Only Commercial Properties Violates the Uniformity Clause
The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania recently analyzed whether the City of Philadelphia's selective reassessment in tax year 2018 of only commercial properties at current market value violated the Uniformity Clause and the Assessment Law's requirement that the City assess all properties annually at actual market value.
Need Help?
- Prefer an IP authenticated environment? Request a transition or call 800-756-8993.
- Need other assistance? email Customer Service or call 1-877-256-2472.
MOST POPULAR STORIES
- Major Differences In UK, U.S. Copyright LawsThis article highlights how copyright law in the United Kingdom differs from U.S. copyright law, and points out differences that may be crucial to entertainment and media businesses familiar with U.S law that are interested in operating in the United Kingdom or under UK law. The article also briefly addresses contrasts in UK and U.S. trademark law.Read More ›
- The Article 8 Opt InThe Article 8 opt-in election adds an additional layer of complexity to the already labyrinthine rules governing perfection of security interests under the UCC. A lender that is unaware of the nuances created by the opt in (may find its security interest vulnerable to being primed by another party that has taken steps to perfect in a superior manner under the circumstances.Read More ›
- Warehouse Liability: Know Before You Stow!As consumers continue to shift purchasing and consumption habits in the aftermath of the pandemic, manufacturers are increasingly reliant on third-party logistics and warehousing to ensure their products timely reach the market.Read More ›
- The Anti-Assignment Override ProvisionsUCC Sections 9406(d) and 9408(a) are one of the most powerful, yet least understood, sections of the Uniform Commercial Code. On their face, they appear to override anti-assignment provisions in agreements that would limit the grant of a security interest. But do these sections really work?Read More ›
- The Stranger to the Deed RuleIn 1987, a unanimous Court of Appeals reaffirmed the vitality of the "stranger to the deed" rule, which holds that if a grantor executes a deed to a grantee purporting to create an easement in a third party, the easement is invalid. Daniello v. Wagner, decided by the Second Department on November 29th, makes it clear that not all grantors (or their lawyers) have received the Court of Appeals' message, suggesting that the rule needs re-examination.Read More ›