You are not my lawyer, but I am your tailor

February 5, 2009 12:56 PM

Commercial renters rights in NYC. Ummm, are there any?

So here's the deal. Our office is in its 7th month of a commercial lease for 1000 square feet. Before we moved in but AFTER we signed the lease we noticed that a portion of the office had been walled up, leaving us with 663 square feet. We are still being charged for 1000 feet and an email disputing this to management before moving in went unanswered.

We could afford to ignore this issue until recently, and plan to dispute this once more (this time with a paper trail). Hopefully this won't go to court, but if it does, does NYC law for commercial tenants even touch this kind of thing? Would this constitute a rent overcharge?

NYC has really good resources available for residential tenant law, but none, it seems, for commercial tenants. We don't have a lawyer (and you are not our lawyers and you're not giving us legal advice), as it is currently not necessary. Before that step, I'd like to arm the office with as much info as possible. Any pointers?

posted by greenland to law & government (6 comments total)

This?:

In Urbach, Kahn & Werlin. P.C. v. 250/PAS Associates commercial tenant commenced an action in the New York State Supreme Court alleging fraud and misrepresentation pertaining to the leasing of a floor for use by an accounting firm. The dispute centered upon New York City's unique phraseology pertaining to commercial space; "usable" square feet versus "rentable" square feet...

I just googled: New York commercial tennancy square feet.
posted by onshi at 1:44 PM on February 5

311 is for businesses too — I'd give it a call.
posted by nicwolff at 1:45 PM on February 5

... and the second hit for that search also offers some more background on the idea of "rentable" vs. "usable" square footage. Very odd!
posted by onshi at 1:50 PM on February 5

... and, I spelled "tenancy" wrong in my first post. I quit!
posted by onshi at 1:51 PM on February 5

Exactly what does it say in the lease about how many square feet you are leasing?
posted by gum at 2:28 PM on February 5

Another article that includes explanations of how your square feet may not be their square feet: Finding an Office in New York City
posted by smackfu at 2:53 PM on February 5