Commercial Lease Dispute Resolution: A Disagreement With Your Landlord, in Order

The four disputes office tenants run into after move-in

• An operating expense bill. The yearly statement is higher than expected, or includes charges that look like capital work.
• Services and repairs. The air conditioning does not hold temperature, an elevator is out, or cleaning falls short of the lease.
• A sublet or assignment request. You asked for consent and heard nothing, or were refused without a reason.
• The security deposit. The lease has ended and the money has not come back, or restoration was deducted and you dispute it.

Each has its own clause, and each clause has its own remedy.

The order to work in, from the lease to written notice

• Reread the lease. Find the clause that governs the problem, then the notice clause, which says how a formal notice must be delivered, to what address and with copies to whom. A notice sent the wrong way can lose the argument before it starts.
• Document. Keep a dated record: photos, the email thread, work order numbers from the building, and readings or logs if the complaint is about temperature or service.
• Raise it in writing. Begin with the building manager, then the landlord, and cite the clause.
• Use the tool the lease gives you. An audit right for an expense statement. The consent standard and any response deadline for a sublet request. A cure period for repairs and services.

For an expense dispute, operating expenses explains the base year, your share and the year-end statement you would be auditing.

When the broker and the attorney come in

Call your broker once a written request has gone unanswered. A broker knows how the landlord's side works and how similar disagreements have settled. If the complaint is really about maintenance, people who already run the floor can fix it faster than a letter can; our facilities management team covers the offices we run.

Call a New York real estate attorney before you withhold anything, before you send a notice that alleges a default, and as soon as you receive one. The remedies under New York law, and their deadlines, are the attorney's to advise on. This page is not legal advice.

Mediation, arbitration or the courts: the lease decides

If direct talks fail, look for a dispute resolution clause. Some leases provide for mediation first. Some send a particular disagreement to arbitration; a renewal rent set at fair market value, for instance, often comes with an appraisal or arbitration step. Where the lease is silent, what is left is litigation, a decision to take with your attorney.

Keep paying rent, and prevent the next dispute at signing

Do not withhold rent as a protest. Most leases treat non-payment as a default, and a tenant in default has handed the landlord the better position, whatever the merits of the original complaint. Pay, object in writing and protect your position the way your attorney advises.

Most disputes trace back to something the lease left undefined. An audit right, a deadline for the landlord to answer a consent request, a list of services with their hours, a defined restoration scope and a stated date for returning the deposit each remove an argument before it can start. Lease red flags lists what to catch before signing.