THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 24, 1994 TAG: 9412220441
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Landlords & Tenants
SOURCE: William Mazel and Albert Teich Jr.
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
Last spring, I rented a commercial store-front space of about 2,000 square feet from a retired doctor who owns 50 other commercial properties in Norfolk.
The unit had been vacant for some time and, at the request of the owner, was shown to me by the shopkeeper next door, who is also renting from this landlord.
The space was to be an art gallery. I signed a five-year lease with a very reasonable rent.
The unit next door was vacated soon after I took possession of mine. On Aug. 1, I pulled up to see one of the landlord's workmen standing in front of the vacated unit. He told me that he was there to tear down a wall separating my unit from the vacant one.
It seems that my landlord is going to sell the unit next to mine and half my unit, an area included in my unit when I leased the premises. I was given orders to remove my belongings from the rooms in question and that the workers would be back to tear down the wall, which they did on Aug. 19.
The landlord claims the portion of the unit in question was given to me by mistake.
Whether this was indeed a mistake should not be a consideration in determining that my lease can be violated in this way. The police would do nothing to stop the workmen from tearing the wall down and breaking into my unit.
I have spoken to other lawyers concerning the matter. They informed me that I would have a good case against the landlord; however, it would be enormously costly.
The lease itself is standard, giving only the address and stating nothing further about the specifications of the unit.
The landlord's workers are coming in the very near future to remove my things from the rooms.
The real estate closing for the vacant unit is going to be some time in the future since an apparent sale of the premises has been made.
I do not want to find another space in which to work as I am established in the area and would not be able to find another comparable rent in this district.
Why is there no way to force him to honor my lease without spending thousands of dollars in legal fees, only to be stuck with a lease that is essentially worthless. Please advise me of the best possible way to resolve this problem.
We recommend that you immediately retain the services of a lawyer to enjoin the landlord from evicting you and directing him to restore the premises to the condition they were in prior to the wall being torn down.
You could consider yourself constructively evicted from the entire space and move to some other premises and sue the landlord for damages.
You could also notify the prospective purchasers of the unit next door that you haves a claim to the space that they think they are getting and that may stop the sale.
You are absolutely correct regardless of whether the landlord made a mistake in renting the unit to you. The landlord is bound by his or her own mistake. In our American legal system, there really is no way for you to force the landlord to honor your lease without either going to court, either by your self or with the services of an attorney.
You may examine your lease to see whether there is a provision that if either party breeches the lease, then the other party would be responsible for the innocent party's reasonable expenses. MEMO: Albert Teich Jr. and William Mazel are real estate lawyers based in
Norfolk. Send comments and questions to them at Real Estate Weekly, 150
W. Brambleton Ave., Norfolk, Va. 23510. by CNB