commercial lease breach

[chaga]

I own a commercial piece of property on a major highway in the State of colorado. In January 1997, I leased the building to a petroleum marketer who owns 40 other locations. I worked for this marketer as an employee while still owning the property until December 2000. The company is experiencing financial difficulty and laid off most of it's help and is substantially reducing the inventory it carries. It changed the locks in December after it laid off most of it's employees and did not provide me a key. ( I still am the landlord). Two weeks later, the sheriff called and said that the employee that was at the store the Saturday before New Years fell and hit her head rendering her unconscious. They had tried to no avail to find another employee of the company to come and lock the store. They needed to transport her to the hospital but did not want to leave the store wide open. Do I have any recourse, especially in light of this instance, to demand a key to my property? In my lease it specifically states that no alterations will be done to the building without my written permission. I never gave this permission.

Thank you
C. Haga

 

[LL]

So why did you let them change the locks?

 

[JETX]

Yes, you can, and should, demand a key and access to the property. Also, most leases (both residential and commercial) have provisions for the landlord to periodically enter the premises (inspection, maintenance, etc.). The fact that they are prohibiting you from exercising that action, is in itself usually cause for breach.