Can a landlord cut power during operating ours just to put in new electrical that is not a repair issue.

[whati4got]

What is the name of your state?
Iowa

A landlord is ending our lease in 30 days and is now making improvements for the new tenant. They are putting in a new electrical panel and informed me that they will be shutting the power off to my store for 2-3 hours during the prime day of business. Can they do this? They have the ability to do it before we open at 11 am. But they are choosing to do so at 1 pm in the middle of our store hours.

 

[Zigner]

What is the name of your state?
Iowa

A landlord is ending our lease in 30 days and is now making improvements for the new tenant. They are putting in a new electrical panel and informed me that they will be shutting the power off to my store for 2-3 hours during the prime day of business. Can they do this? They have the ability to do it before we open at 11 am. But they are choosing to do so at 1 pm in the middle of our store hours.

Probably.

 

[AlmostThere]

What does your lease say about your landlord performing maintenance?

 

[whati4got]

What does your lease say about your landlord performing maintenance?

There is no longer a lease. We are on a month to month since the new owner purchased the building. They did not want to entertain the idea of a lease. I'm assuming because they planned to put someone else in when the time arose.

 

[AlmostThere]

What did your prior lease say?

 

[whati4got]

What did your prior lease say?

There hasn't been a prior lease with the current owner of the building. It's been strictly month to month. The previous owner sold the property without a provision for the current lease and we did not have a provision in the lease that required any transfer of ownership to be required to abide by the lease that is in place with the previous owner.

 

[zddoodah]

A landlord is ending our lease in 30 days

So...as of August 14, 2024. Correct? Is the landlord simply not renewing your lease? Or is the landlord terminating your lease? If the latter, what is the reason for the termination?

[The landlord is] putting in a new electrical panel and informed me that [it] will be shutting the power off to my store for 2-3 hours during the prime day of business. Can [it] do this?

I'm confident that your landlord can do this, but I doubt that's the question you intended to ask.

What does your lease say about such things?

They have the ability to do it before we open at 11 am. But they are choosing to do so at 1 pm in the middle of our store hours.

What response did you receive when you explained that this would be detrimental to your business and requested that the work be done prior to business hours?

There is no longer a lease. We are on a month to month since the new owner purchased the building.

There hasn't been a prior lease with the current owner of the building. It's been strictly month to month.

You are confusing the nature of the tenancy with the existence of a written lease. Being "month to month" does not mean there's no lease.

When you moved into these premises, did you sign an agreement with the landlord? If so, what is that agreement called? When did you move in? In the time that you have been there did you and the landlord sign any amendments or modifications to that agreement? Do any of the documents you signed say anything relevant to this situation?

 

[Zigner]

The lease rights and responsibilities transfer to the new owner.

 

[Taxing Matters]

A new owner coming in and buying the building doesn't terminate your lease unless there is a provision in your lease for that situation. That's why we keep asking you what the lease that you had with the prior owner says. If the lease didn't terminate and the new owner is violating the lease, you may have recourse for that.

 

[adjusterjack]

It's almost 4 PM in Iowa so the power has been shut off for a couple of hours.

Assuming for the moment, that there was a breach of contract, just how much did the lack of power cost you for a few hours?

Did the store remain open?

Did customers keep coming in or did they stay home because of the thunderstorms forecast for Iowa today?