Question

Mr. Yusef Barrington used a small inheritance he received from his grandparents to buy a small business supply company that was run in a rental space in a shopping centre. Mr. Barrington had never run a business before but he loved the idea of being his own boss. After Mr. Barrington began to run the business, the owner of the property threatened to kick him out of the location if he did not sign a new lease. One term in the lease provided that the tenant would be liable for any arrears in rent on the location. Mr. Barrington did not think this term was fair and questioned the owner about it. The owner told him that it was a standard term and he had to sign the lease or lose all his inventory in the business as the owner would lock him out. Mr. Barrington struggled the first few months and one month when he was late with the rent the owner tried to seize the assets of the business to pay for the rent. Mr. Barrington is very stressed and just wants to move his business to a new location.

Answer the following questions (12 points total, see breakout of points below):

Is the lease enforceable? Does Mr. Barrington have any grounds to challenge the validity and enforceability of the lease? Ensure you refer to the specific terms and criteria for the grounds. (9 points)
What could the owner have done to ensure Mr. Barrington cannot challenge the lease? (3 points)

Answer 1

Yes, this lease is enforceable as it is more than one year period and the terms and conditions are mentioned before the agreement.

Yes, Barrington have ground to challenge the validity that he was force to sign new lease agreement with the terms which he found unfair and still forced in the name of acquiring the business assets.

mainly it is mention in the terms that the business will be locked and Barrington had to accept this term without questioning also , mentioned that any arrear will turn out for seizing of business assets which is not fair .

The owner could have send the prior notice of rent arrear and then also if the tenant doesnot pay the rent within in mentioned time then owner have legally rights to seize the assets.

Also, he could mentioned this legal term in the agreement too so that tenant couldnot avoid or take action against him.