Home > Research Legal Advice > Debt / Lending Agreements > Is there a breech of lease? What damages are recoverable?
Asked about 1 year ago - Stanwood, WA
FlagThe building for the restaurant business is being leased. The building floods, causing shorting of electrical, as the wiring to the panel is under the floor. The city shut down the restaurant and the landlord is unwilling to fix the flooding problem.
The answer depends on the facts missing from your post. You should review the specific facts with your attorney to find out your legal options.
Examples of relevant facts may include the reason of the flood. If, let's say, you are the tenant and you caused the flood, it would be unusual for the landlord to have to repair at the landlord's cost the damages you caused. On another hand, if the landlord caused the flooding, the landlord would have to fix the damages.
In many commercial leases, the tenant is the one who has responsibility of installing and maintaining electrical systems. In that case, if the flood was not the fault of either the landlord or tenant, the tenant would be responsible for the repairs.
Regardless of any agreement between the landlord and tenant, as far as the city is concerned, the landlord is liable for keeping the building up to codes. If the city needs to enforce any codes, the landlord likely will be the one the city will sue. (If the tenant is liable, the landlord will turn around and sue the tenant.)
You should review the specific facts with your attorney.
The answer to your question depends on the language of the lease. Assuming that this is a typical space lease, the landlord would be responsible for the flooding problem and probably for the electrical problem, but not necessarily. There is an implied covenant of quiet enjoyment in all leases which assures the tenant of the use of the rented space, which would have been breached but sometimes the lease waives this implied term. The lease can also influence the damages that can be recovered but the tenant's chief damages would normally be lost profits, and maybe lost inventory. You inquiry however should not stop there, as commercial leases usually have provisions that affect recourse against the lessor, such as limiting recourse to the land and not permitting recourse against other assets.
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