Playing the Name Game: Getting to Know Your Landlord or Tenant
November 5, 2013
What You Need to Know
One of the essential elements of a binding agreement to lease is the identity of the parties. The parties must be named. The names must be correct. The parties must have legal capacity to contract. This may seem straightforward, but it can actually be quite perplexing. In some cases, the party named as landlord is actually a property manager, or the party named as tenant turns out to be an incorrect combination the legal and business names of the entity, or a defunct even non-existent corporation.
The importance of identifying the proper parties to a lease cannot be overstated. In many cases, a landlord’s recovery rights under the lease will be limited to the named tenant. Likewise, tenants should ensure that the named landlord actually has legal capacity to grant the rights and privileges afforded under the lease.
The recent News ReLease drafted by the team at Daoust Vukovich LLP entitled “Playing the Name Game: Getting to Know Your Landlord or Tenant” reviews some important issues that landlords and tenants should consider when identifying the proper parties to a lease.