Commercial Lease Problem -- We did not sign a new amendment for the new layout.

[diggity]

We have a commercial space we are leasing, and we were approached by the landlord to give back 1/3 of the space to the landlord, and he leased this out to another tenant.

The landlord's motivation for doing this, I assume was because the tenant may have been paying slughtly more than us per sq. foot and is a high profile national tenant.

We signed an amendment for the lease which showed a diagram of where we would be in our space and our new square footage came to 3000 feet down from 4500 feet.

However, once the lardlord started with construction they found out they could not configure it as they had initially thought due to fire code, so instead of being on the left side as the exhibit showed they put us on the right side. Additionally our new square footage ended up being 3200 feet as opposed to 3000 feet.

The landlord is trying to collect rent and back rent on 3200 feet as opposed to the 3000 feet we had signed for. We did not sign a new amendment to the lease for the 3200 feet or the new layout. We did verbally agree to the new layout but was unaware that it would be 3200. The original lease also does styate the square footage as "approximate"

My question is 3 part....Is there any legal right on our part to pay for 3200 feet? Can the landlord take 200 feet away and use for whatever he wishes, and can that space he takes be wherever he wishes? And finally since our diagram on the amended lease is not what we are actually renting does this void the entire lease?

[Friend In Court]

There is a good possibility that the difference in square footage can invalidate the lease. The lease terms and property description is what it states -- as well as the lease payments -- no more, no less.

To adjust your space and renegotiate the lease for his convenience and profit was generous and more than agreeable. If it were me I would stand firm on the terms of the renegotiated lease. And give him the option to abide by it or find a new tenant and pay for relocation.

[diggity]

Thanks for your advice Friend in Court.

And if the we chose to stay would the landlord have right to come in and put in a demising way to deaden off 200 sq. feet? He would probably do this as that is the kind of guy he is.

We do have an Quiet Enjoyment clasuse in our lease, so I do not know if construction would violate a QE clause.

[diggity]

Any other thoughts anyone has would be appreciated.

[Friend In Court]

With the number of changes, the fact the diagram attached to the amended lease is not the floor space you are actually renting, I would have a real estate attorney examine the documents in order to get an informed opinion.