commerical tenant's rights, WA state landlord tenant act
Tacoma (WA)
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Posted 3 months ago in Landlord / Tenant.
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Commercial Landlord/Tenant dispute:
Our Landlord is disputing an article in our lease that entitles us to a proportionate reduction in rent if our building is damaged due to Fire or other perils covered by extended coverage insurance. In Dec/06 we had hurricane type wind that took out 3 very large bay doors in our warehouse. It took 3 months for these doors to be repaired and left us with an unsecure and partly unusable warehouse. Our business depends on the use of our warehouse and the damage adversely affected our day-to-day business.
The damage was covered by the extended coverage insurance that we as tenants maintain through our Triple Net Rent Payments each month. The clause in our lease says: Paragraph 22. “In the event the Premise or Building of which the premises are a part are damaged by fire or other perils covered by extended coverage insurance, Landlord agrees to forthwith repair the same, and this Lease shall remain in full force and effect, except that Tenant shall be entitled to a proportionate reduction of rent while such repairs are being made.” Our Landlord purchased the property we lease in June 06 and has been less than professional and is all of a sudden, after almost 2 years, trying to knit pick areas that they seem quite uniformed about. We are good Tenants and until recently had no problems, we merely overlooked their unprofessionalism.
Additional information
Ooops the question I have is... Paragraph 22. entitles us to a proportionate reduction in Rent, doesn't it? I think it's quite clear but the Landlord says it's a general repair and does mot entitle us to a reduction in rent. I think it's clear Act of God =Wind damage & Extended Coverage Insurance covered the damage. Answers (4)
Perry A Warbrick
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Posted 3 months ago.
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The WA state landlord tenant act that you refer to is actually the WA Residential Landlord Tenant Act and does not cover commercial properties such as yours.
I think this is really a contract issue. Just looking at the clause in paragraph 22, on its face, it looks like you would have been entitled to a reduction in rent during the repair process, but it does not state what the reduction would be proportionate to. (lost income, lost use of space, etc.) The clause needs to be read in context of the whole lease. Without knowing the amounts of money involved I cannot determine if it would be worth suing the landlord for breech of contract. With this limited information, I suspect that unless you are talking about considerable rent and the contract clarifies what the proportionate reduction would be, it is probably not worth bringing a breech of contract action against your landlord. Heidi
Posted 3 months ago.
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Thank you for your input Perry! :)
Our Rent is quite significant in excess of 25,000.00 a month. We had 3 very large bay doors in our warehouse blown out for 3 months. 75% of our warehouse was not secure and at the mercy of the incoming weather. Also our contents insurance was compromised. It was a nasty situation. 
John Donald Sullivan
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Posted 3 months ago.
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I generally agree with Perry's answer. The terms of the lease will control and, as he says, the provision needs to be read in the context of the entire lease.
Given the amount of rent involved, however, it is definitely worth having a real estate attorney knowledgable in commercial leasing review the lease and the detailed facts. A strong letter from an attorney explaining the landlord's obligations may be sufficient, without needed to file a lawsuit. Typically, costs are allocated based on rentable square feet, but not always. You indicate that you lost the use of a substantial portion of the premises. However, part of the issue will be what you did or could have done to mitigate your damages/loss and how unusable the space was. PLEASE BE ADVISED: This answer and any information contained herein is not intended to be treated, and should not be construed, as legal advice. Rather, this answer is offered solely for general information purposes. This answer does not create an attorney-client relationship, nor does it create any kind of legal relationship, duty, or privilege. This attorney is licensed only in Washington. Heidi
Posted 3 months ago.
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Thank you for your response John! :) You all have been great! Just for ref. Our warehouse is over 40,000 sq ft and the bay doors blew in during the wind storm in Dec 06. The bay doors are 24ft high by 18 ft wide & were totally taken out by the wind. We use all our bay doors daily. We did park semi's in front of the doors at night but during the day moving trucks back and forth isn't realistic. The extended coverage insurance that we maintain covered the replacement of the doors. I think Paragraph 22 clearly entitles us to a reduction in rent.
Again thank you for all the great input!
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