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As it has with most every other aspect of leasing, the COVID-19 crisis has played havoc with landlords’ efforts to collect unpaid rent from tenants’ guarantors. And now as a second and more deadly surge of cases threatens further government shutdowns, landlords need to be aware of the key cases involving attempts to enforce lease guaranties that came down as a result of tenant COVID-related defaults during the first round of shutdowns last spring.
Now that most states have lifted their moratoria on commercial evictions, tenants strapped by COVID-19 losses are increasingly seeking refuge in bankruptcy courts. But while the automatic stay buys tenants some time to decide whether to reject their lease, tenants in bankruptcy still have to pay their rent within 60 days. At least, that’s how it works in normal times. But since the COVID-19 crisis began, bankruptcy courts have bent the rules to relieve tenants from their so-called post-petition rent obligations.
As businesses begin to reopen, governors and public health authorities in many states have issued orders requiring employers to perform body temperature screening of employees before the start of work shifts to prevent workplace COVID-19 infection. To determine whether you’re covered by such an order, here’s a visual summary of statewide screening orders currently in place as of June 10, 2020.
Despite global financial uncertainty sparked by Brexit—that is, the impending withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union—London retained its title as the world’s top destination for investment in commercial real estate in 2018, according to a new report by global real estate consultants Knight Frank.
Canada’s commercial real estate growth is set to continue through the next year, according to Avison Young’s new report. The 2019 North America, Europe and Asia Commercial Real Estate Forecast reveals that factors such as historically low unemployment rates boosted the economy. For several months, the lack of an amicable trade deal with the U.S. was a destabilizing factor on many fronts, but the prospective United States-Mexico-Canada agreement is predicted to ease some of the concern.
A new survey of commercial real estate brokers who have done lease deals for space for marijuana businesses reveals that—despite the difficulty of negotiating such leases—they would try again. The survey comes after voters have approved the legalization of marijuana in three more states. Voters in Michigan legalized marijuana for recreational use, and voters in Missouri and Utah legalized the use of medical marijuana. Now, 33 states and the District of Columbia have some form of legal marijuana sales.
An eviction suit filed against the U.S. Postal Service could speed up ambitious plans for redeveloping a huge downtown Milwaukee building. The owner is trying to evict its only tenant, which holds a lease that could extend until 2040. The owner filed a lawsuit in Milwaukee County Circuit Court asking a judge to evict the Postal Service from a building the agency has used for about 50 years. The suit, filed in August, claims the Postal Service has defaulted on its lease by failing to make building repairs.
A new lawsuit raises the question of whether an office building tenant should get to choose whether to use union contractors for its space, or whether the decision should be left up to the building’s manager.
The federal lawsuit filed against real estate giant Jones Lang LaSalle by a Chicago company for allegedly illegally blocking it from using nonunion labor for improvement projects at its downtown Chicago office calls out a supposed “conspiracy” with local labor unions.
Despite an uncertain political climate, foreign investors are keen to continue investing in U.S. commercial real estate. In fact, the U.S. continues to be the single largest recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the world, to the tune of more than $450 billion from other countries since 2016, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis at the Department of Commerce.
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