Commercial Leasing 2013


Course Date: May 3, 2013

Course Agenda ▼

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