Kiritsis & Associates
How formal does a New York lease for commercial real property have to be for it to be legally enforceable?
Jul 26, 2021
Kiritsis Law Group Phone: (212) – 922 – 0005.
By: John Kiritsis, Esq., CPA, MBA, MS, JD, LL.M
New York does not impose any formality requirements for commercial real property leases to be legally binding and enforceable. In New York, chattel is NOT considered real property. Leases with governmental parties are beyond the scope of this legal guide.
Landlords often favor net leases because they absolve landlords from duties to maintain the property. There may be New York case laws where an informal memorandum functions as a legally binding and enforceable written lease.
Besides legal regulations, there may be practical reasons, that would compel landlords and tenants alike, to have their lease agreement contractual documents, be recorded for public filing purposes. Those reasons can involve any one or more of a myriad of situations, such as: part of a broader loan/mortgage type of agreement (i.e. as it concerns to a lender's/underwriter's due diligence process, during a mortgage financing type of situations), tax substantiation reasons with regards of an ongoing and/or potentially prospecting upcoming tax audit, part of a wider range of zoning/variance controversy situation.
One cannot be too formal when judicially enforcing a commercial lease. A real property lease lasting less than 1 year may still be binding, even if entered orally.
Many of the lease agreements (especially, many of the ones created through diy (do it yourself) (do it yourself) autogenerating software or bare-bone store sold templates) did not account nor foresaw the catastrophic type of damages, that would inflict both landlords and tenants at the post Covid 19 pandemic era.
To better assist in a quest of further analyzing this type of question(s) as revolving per this legal guide article, it may be useful to make additional inquiries, such as: Should any pertaining lease documents be filed as a public recordation? Is it possible to make a county-specific public recordation of the pertaining lease documents? Is it permissible to have the lease be freely assignable?
Our firm can help you draft, review, negotiate, and execute any type of New York real property lease agreement. We are open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. We offer prospective clients both exhaustive and comprehensive leasing law practice services, including the following:
Non-rent regulated residential lease agreements.
Rent regulated stabilized residential lease agreements.
Commercial lease agreements.
Industrial occupancy lease agreements. Call our law offices at (212)–922–0005
Warehouse storage lease agreements.
Medical space use lease agreements.
Spa and physical therapy related use lease agreements.
Professional service lease agreements, including Accounting, Insurance, Medicine, Law, Architecture, etc.
Safety deposit/vault use lease agreements. Call our law offices at (212)–922–0005
Shared office space use lease contracts.
Netted lease contracts.
Double net lease contracts.
Commercial leases with time extension option provisions.
Addendum and side deal real property lease contracts. Call our law offices at (212)–922–0005
Existing lease assumption lease contracts.
Cancellation of commercial lease contracts.
Restaurant and related use lease contracts.
Deli and bodega related use lease contracts.
Bar and tavern related use lease contracts. Call our law offices at (212)–922–0005
Religious institution and related use lease contracts.
Morgue and related use lease contracts.
Buddhist temple and related use lease contracts.
Non-profit and related use lease contracts.
Lease sales back terms lease contracts. Call our law offices at (212)–922–0005
Development site lease contracts.
Farming related lease contracts.
Livestock related use lease contracts.
Timber related use lease contracts.
Oil drilling related use lease contracts. Call our law offices at (212)–922–0005
Riparian and water rights related use lease contracts.
Dining hall use lease contracts.
Co-op lease contracts.
Condo-type building premises lease contracts.
Condo co-op building premises lease contracts. Call our law offices at (212)–922–0005
Two family dwelling lease contracts.
4-plex property lease contracts.
Commercial use building premises lease contracts.
Locker room/storage type lease contracts.
Laundromat and other related use lease contracts. Call our law offices at (212)–922–0005
Florist, botanical, and horticulture use lease contracts.
Municipal related use lease contracts.
Hostel and other related use lease contracts.
Master lease contracts.
Hypothecating, equity-utilization, leveraging lease contracts. Call our law offices at (212)–922–0005
Negotiating lease contracts.
We offer prospective clients services throughout the state of New York, including the following counties:
Albany
Allegany
Bronx
Broome
Cattaraugus
Cayuga
Chautauqua
Chemung
Chenango
Clinton
Columbia
Cortland
Delaware
Cutchess
Erie
Essex
Franklin
Fulton
Genesee
Greene
Hamilton
Herkimer
Jefferson
Kings
Lewis
Livingston
Madison
Monroe
Montgomery
Nassau
New York
Niagara
Oneida
Onondaga
Ontario
Orange
Orleans
Oswego
Otsego
Putnam
Queens
Rensselaer
Richmond
Rockland
St. Lawrence
Saratoga
Schenectady
Schoharie
Schuyler
Seneca
Steuben
Suffolk
Sullivan
Tioga
Tompkins
Ulster
Warren
Washington
Wayne
Westchester
Wyoming
Yates
You can call use today for a FREE initial consultation with a licensed New York real estate attorney at (212) – 922 – 0005.
We offer a number of fee payment options, including Flat, Hourly Rate, Mixed-type (various payment plans combined).
We accept all standard methods of payment, including Cash, Personal check, Business check, Cashier check, Bank check, Money order, Debit card, most Credit Cards.
We also sell template-type products, including legal guide pamphlet-style booklets.
For more information on any of the above services and products, or any type of legally related service product, contact us at any of our New York and New Jersey branch affiliates.
For more information, you may want to look up the following source materials:
New York Constitution
New York City Bar Association
New York Department of Finance
New York State Society of CPAs
General Obligation Law (GOL) §5-702, §5-703
NY RPL §226
NY RPL §232
NY RPL §237
Hiles v. Fisher, 144 N.Y. 306 (1895)
Lawriv v. Cit of Rochester, 14 A.D.2d 13 (4th Dept. 1961)
Minja K Co. v. Randolph, 140 A.D.2d 245 C 1st Dept, (1988)
Scutti Enterprises, Inc. v. Wackermain Cuchone Custom Builders, Inc., 153 A.D.2d 83 (4th Dept. 1989)
Witter v. Taggart, 78 N.Y.S.2d 234 (1991)
Bonton v. Williams, 42 A.D.3d 795 (3rd Dept. 2007)
Wells Fargo Bank N.A. v. Marchione, 69 A.D.3d 204 (2nd Dept. 2009)
Meyers v. Rosen, 69 A.D.3d 1095 (2nd Dept. 2010)
Pritsiolas v. Apple Bankcorp, Inc., 120 A.D.3d 647 (2nd Dept. 2014)
Kheel v. Molinari, 165 A.D.3d 1576 (3rd Dept. 2018)
Law Offices of Kiritsis & Associates
Phone: 212 922 0005
Manhattan Office (Main Office):
633 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10017
Suite 1306
Brooklyn Office (By Appointment Only):
1023 74th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11228
1st Floor
New Jersey Office:
7309 Ventnor Avenue
Ventnor, NJ 08406
2nd Floor
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Phone: (212) – 922 – 0005.