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A comment on Almost 90 percent of NYC bars and restaurants couldn’t pay August rent. Parent comment

Re:Almost 90 percent of NYC bars and restaurants couldn’t pa... by petre on Tuesday September 22, 2020 @12:40AM (#24550904)
> A renter signs a contract promising to pay rent.

They should use the force majeure clause to terminate their contracts and the landlords could sue if they don't like that. A pandemic is not unlike a flood or earthquake. This is exactly why such a clause exists in contracts.

My boss negotiates a lower rent during a crisis. It’s fair enough. Would the landlord prefer a smaller amount to none at all?

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Re:Almost 90 percent of NYC bars and restaurants couldn’t pa... by TomVDB on Tuesday September 22, 2020 @01:17AM (#24551100)
> Would the landlord prefer a smaller amount to none at all?

As was explained a week or so ago by somebody in that business on Reddit: for commercial real estate, many landlords would prefer none at all over a smaller amount, because the loan is written with the assumption of a certain rent per unit, and if the average rent goes down, it breaches the loan conditions and the loan is revoked (or something like that.)

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Re:Almost 90 percent of NYC bars and restaurants couldn’t pa... by twblalock on Tuesday September 22, 2020 @12:51AM (#24550965)
> They should use the force majeure clause to terminate their contracts and the landlords could sue if they don't like that. A pandemic is not unlike a flood or earthquake. This is exactly why such a clause exists in contracts.

If they terminate their contracts they need to move out. That's not what is happening here. Tenants are trying to stop paying, but also stay in the property for free, indefinitely.

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