30-Day Notice to Relocate My Business

[LoraAnna]

I am the subtenant of an antiques business (I run a vintage clothing business next door to the lease-signing tenant). Things have not been friendly between us for several months.
My landlord, the lease-signing tenant, the person I pay rent to, has been changing the rules constantly and has been fully aware of my advertising for the upcoming year. Now she is trying to serve me with a 30-day notice to vacate, claiming she wants to "expand their business." Unfortunately this is really due to personal differences. My questions are as follows:

--Does she have the right to come into my space without my knowledge or notice (which she did last night) and rearrange and block access between our two spaces (there are two doorways in between us which are now literally boarded up; she also padlocked her outside door and moved her alarm panel)?

--Does she have the right to evict my business, which has been successful for nine years, with a simple 30-day notice, even though she fully well knows I have paid for advertising for the upcoming year?

--Can she be financially responsible for my forced relocation and lost business from the already-paid ads?

--Can I legally buy time by not picking up the certified letter waiting for me at the post office (which was sent to my house, not my business)? If not, how then can I legally postpone my relocation?

The proper landlord is also fully aware of the problems she has been creating but seems to be too passive to do anything or even know what to do. I am not a bad tenant -- I faithfully pay the rent plus my share of utilities, the new carpeting, alarm, insurance, etc. Every move she makes has been deliberately dishonest and deceitful. Please help.

 

[Tracey]

1. Absolutely not. She can't enter your space without permission. She's treapassing otherwise. If the only access to your store is through her store, she has also subjected you to a wrongful ouster and is liable to you for all kinds of money. Usually it's 2-3 month's rent + court costs + attorney fees. Check your state landlord tenant act, the commercial lease part, not the residential lease part.

2. Check the act to see how much notice a commercial tenant must receive under the law. It's probably 30-90 days. Unless you have a term lease, she can evict you for any reason at any time.
BUT, retaliatory evictions may be forbidden in commercial leases. Check to see if the law forbis terminating a lease within 90-180 days of the tenant complaining or trying to get landlord to fulfill her duties, etc.

3. No. You paid for a year's worth of ads knowing that she could terminate the lease at any time. (Unless you can find something in writing where she promises to reimburse you for advertising.)

4. Check the LT Act to see what service of the termination notice is required. Sending to your home may be improper. If it is, you don't have to point this out -- you can just use it as a defense to eviction. If it's OK, then you can't duck service by refusing the letter. The court will just declare that you were served on the day the office tried to deliver.

5. Owner has no duty to act as a mediator between you two.

6. If you think the eviction is retaliatory, you can fight it in court & pay your rent to the court until it decides.

7. You can sue her for unlawful access for entering your store without permission or proper notice, and not for an emergency. Depending on the law, you may get 1 month's rent + atty fees as damages.

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This is not legal advice and you are not my client. Double check everything with your own attorney and your state's laws.