Breaking a lease-lawyer time?

[Qingdai]

My office has been in a flurry of painting and carpeting lately. The owners keep sending vaguely threatening emails about if how we don't move stuff around they are going to charge us. The personal stuff I get, but much of what they are asking us to move around for them is office equipment that they own and we pay usage fees for (chairs, heaters things like that).
They give us about a days notice on things like that too.

They are supposed to pay me for managing the clinic, on the first of each month. They've been up to 18 days late.

What are the sorts of conditions one can break a lease for? I know I probably can't, but I want to dream. My lease is up in December.:hyperventilate:

[LadyShea]

Move it around for what purpose? To allow the painters and them work? Is the work being done during business hours? Scour your lease for out clauses, almost all have one or two you can use.

[wildernesse]

In addition to looking at your lease, be sure you understand what the landlord would likely be able to recover as damages if they sued you for breach of the lease. That is the kind of information you will need to know before you can determine if it is worth it to you to break the lease.

[Qingdai]

Yes, they want us to move office equipment and furniture so that the carpet layers can put down carpet.
I know I should find my lease and go over it. It's somewhere in the mess of personal stuff I moved to boxes for this whole painting debacle.

So last night they inform us (by email) that the next day we have to move stuff around.
Three of us are on vacation, and the owners say they won't be available because they are going on vacation.

[godfry n. glad]

Insufficient notice.

If they want stuff moved around in the absence of the tenants, they need to move that stuff around themselves. They, of course, will be liable for any loss or damage in the process.

I would emphasize that I'd be willing to work with them on upgrading the facility, but I, as the paying tenant, would appreciate the courtesy of a timely notification, and preferrably, a joint agreement as to when the work will be done, to minimize the disruption on the business (which supports the continued payment of the lease fee).

That would be my take.

Their lack of planning does not constitute your emergency.

[Sauron]

Without seeing the lease agreement, it would be hard to say. But off the top of my non-lawyer head, here is what I would think:

1. It's not your job to move their business property so that the routine upkeep (painting) can take place. It doesn't matter if they give you a day's notice or a month's notice. Still not your job. Inform them of such. You would be required to allow their workers onsite to move it around instead, and that requires some statutory notice period (24 hours, 48 hours, whatever).

2. What are the details of the payment agreement you have with the landlord? Are they also your employer? Would a court see it that way? If so, that could complicate things.

3. If they are paying you to administer the office and you are receiving it late, then you've set a bad precedent by accepting late payments already. By accepting late payments, in essence you have waived your right to timely payment. This precedent works in favor of the party making the late payments - in this case, the landlord. You need to send them a letter basically saying that you will not be accepting late payments any further, that all payments are due when rent is due, etc. And that if not received by that date, you will be subtracting the pay from the monthly rental amount.

4. Find out what your lease says about security, damage and cleaning deposits. Most importantly, find the liquidated damages provision in the lease - all leases have them. Most leases usually just say that if the tenant breaks the lease, then the security deposit is the liquidated damage. If the landlord elects to go that route, then under the Uniform Residential Landlord Tenant Act, most states hold that he/she cannot pursue you in court for further damages. The landlord can either have the liquidated damages or sue you for actual damages - but not both at the same time. They must choose which relief they prefer. Note, however, that

1. the URLTA has only been adopted by 1/3 of the states, and serves as a guideline in others; and
2. the URLTA is for *residential* scenarios - I am not sure for business scenarios.

5. Some agreements state that the landlord is required to try and mitigate damages by re-renting it as soon as possible. The problem comes in proving whether or not the landlord made sincere, sufficient efforts to re-rent the place. Given the fact that they're busy painting it, they might not try very hard until they're finished with painting. And if there is no such clause in the rental agreement, then courts are reluctant to impose a requirement upon a landlord anyhow.

Sauron, who just finished a class in real estate law for my MBA.

[Qingdai]

Thank you all for your responses.
It is complicated because they have hired me (contract) as the on-site manager, with incredibly poorly defined duties and even worse communication skills.
There are many vacant rooms already, they post a sign outdoors that rooms are for rent. I don't think they've made any other effort. They certainly haven't ever contacted me in 3 years to show the place to prospective tenants.
5 months left on the lease.

[godfry n. glad]

If you are the on-site manager, you should have control of determining when this happens...not at the whim of some other actors not the owner.

If the duties are poorly defined, that means you can define them...right? Appropriate the power to schedule all work done on the facility.