Strategies For Buildings In Financial Trouble

By Andrew Zezas

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So, what happens if you uncover bad news and find out that your company's landlord isn't just managing cash flow but, may truly be in danger of losing its building.....the building YOUR COMPANY OCCUPIES?!

Here are 9 Defensive Strategies When Your Landlord May Lose The Building Your Company Leases, that might stave off catastrophe:

1. Buy the building from the landlord (This one may be challenging if your company is a small tenant in a large building)

2. Buy the building's mortgage from the lender

3. Sublease your space (This strategy may be least effective if the building is experiencing financial hardship, especially in markets with little demand for space)

4. Restructure your lease (Can your company create enough of a financial benefit for itself and its landlord to save the building? What would be the quid pro quo?)

5. Seek self-help (Which services, on which the landlord may default, can your company perform or have performed by other service providers, without placing itself into default of its lease?)

6. Check with your real estate professional (What's the word on the street?)

7. Check with your attorney (What legal remedies might be available to your company?)

8. If your lease is scheduled to expire, move now....move early (The double rent that your company might pay for a short time period, if it moves to other quarters before its lease expires, may be cheap in comparison to the expenses, lost productivity, and other challenges it might experience if the landlord loses its building)

9. Have a conversation with your landlord to determine what you might work out together
In tumultuous economic times such as these, prudence demands that executives be proactive in undertsanding the stability and risk associated with the real estate their companies occupy.  Advanced planning and a little investigative work, coupled with creative solutions can go a long way to protecting your company's flank.

Copyright Real Estate Strategies Corporation 2011.  All Rights Reserved.

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