The Wall Street Journal
Some retail tenants are aiming to rewrite their leases to include pandemic escape clauses and other additional forms of relief, setting up a showdown with landlords who oppose these measures.
Most retail leases limit a tenant’s ability to claim a rent abatement based on business interruption or force majeure clauses, which either exclude pandemics or don’t relieve a tenant from paying rent. Tenant lawyers say they are insisting these clauses become a part of new leases.. . . more