CLE Online

Welcome and Introduction

D. Ross McGowan — Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, Vancouver
Richard J. Olson — McKechnie & Company, Vancouver

Offers to Lease—The Hidden Traps

• reviewing the offer to lease and landlord’s standard form of the lease—what to look for
• hidden financial obligations—the real rental rate
• measurement of the area—gross-ups?
• insurance—necessary to double up?
• rights to assign or sublease—an illusion?
• options to renew—conditions precedent
• arbitration clauses—who has to pay?

Richard J. Olson — McKechnie & Company, Vancouver
Gregory W. Umbach — Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, Vancouver

Strategies for the Sinking Ship

• proposal—CCAA
• insolvency options: negotiated settlements
• dealing with the trustee—occupation rent, seeking to assign

Edward J.T. Wang — Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, Vancouver
Robert V. Wickett — MacKenzie Fujisawa LLP, Vancouver

Networking Break

Tenants’ Responses to Landlords’ Remedies

• rent distress
• enforcement of operating covenants
• interference with tenant's use and occupation
• re entry and re-letting as tenant’s agent without terminating
• re-entry and termination
• waiver and estoppel
• determination of periodic tenancies
• actions for possession
• damages for wrongful overholding and trespass
• relief from forfeiture
• landlords' claims for legal expenses

Simon R. Coval — Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP, Vancouver
H. Scott MacDonald — Richards Buell Sutton LLP, Vancouver

Questions and Discussion

Networking Lunch

Issues for the Tenants in Strata Buildings

• strata bylaws
• use of common strata property
• responsibilities of landlord vs. strata corporation
• "operating costs" and strata fees
• participation in strata governance
• repairs and construction deficiencies

Krista M. Johanson — Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, Vancouver

Problems at the End of a lease

• involuntary bailment: problems left behind
• moving in the new tenant
• privacy issues
• environmental concerns
• construction remediation issues
• insolvency

D. Ross McGowan — Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, Vancouver
Richard J. Olson — McKechnie & Company, Vancouver

Networking Break

Hot Topics and Ethical Issues in Commercial Leasing: Panel Discussion

• insurance issues
• enforcing the lease—is specific performance available?
• dealing with the unresponsive landlord

H. Scott MacDonald — Richards Buell Sutton LLP, Vancouver
D. Ross McGowan — Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, Vancouver
Richard J. Olson — McKechnie & Company, Vancouver

Questions and Discussion