Recently, the Appellate Division of the State of New Jersey in Patel v. 323 Central Avenue Corp., et. al., declared that a tenant’s exercise of his option to purchase certain commercial property was barred. The court found that the contract was never signed, no enforceable oral agreement was ever intended, the tenant did not make a valid election to exercise his option under lease, and the tenant did not extend his option under the lease. See Patel v. 323 Central Ave. Corp., et al. A-3724-06T2 (App. Div. 2008).
This decision is very helpful to commercial landlords as it supports basic contract law maxims, which requires commercial tenants who wish to exercise certain options to exercise those options with particularity and pursuant to the terms of the contract.
Background
The tenant was a physician who entered into a lease agreement for commercial property in Orange, New Jersey. The landlord was wholly owned by Ocean Mountain Healthcare Incorporated. In addition, Cathedral Healthcare Systems (the “Affiliate”) had an affiliation agreement with the hospital. The tenant’s lease for the commercial space was to terminate on March 19, 2005. The lease provided the tenant with an opportunity to extend the term of the lease and the right to purchase the commercial property. The tenant sent a letter to the Chairman of the Affiliate (not the landlord) in February 2004 expressing a desire to exercise the option – almost a year prior to the expiration of the contract. Although not specifically noticed by the tenant, the landlord sent back an unsigned written contract to sell the property. The tenant then forwarded a deposit check to the landlord with the signed contract. After the lease term ended, the landlord forwarded to the tenant a letter advising that it was no longer in the position to sell the commercial space, later returning the tenant’s deposit check.
The tenant filed suit claiming specific performance, breach of contract, breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealings, fraud, consumer fraud, successor liability. The lower court dismissed all counts of his complaint. The Appellate Division affirmed that ruling.
Appellate Division Upholds Landlord’s Rights
The Appellate Division, upon review of the case, noted that the tenant failed to present clear and convincing proof of the contract. Noting in the record, that although that the landlord had forwarded a contract to the tenant to sign and the tenant had executed the contract, as well as provided the deposit, at no point had the landlord actually signed the contract. Further, the Court noted that when the tenant exercised its option to purchase the lease term failed to request an extension of the term. As such, when the landlord advised the tenant that it no longer wanted to sell the building, the tenant was outside his contractual period. The Court also noted that the tenant had failed to strictly comply with the terms of exercising his option. For instance, the contract provided that the tenant was to provide notice to the landlord via certified mail, return receipt. Rather than sending to the landlord, the tenant sent this option to the Affiliate.
Practical Implications for Commercial Landlords
This opinion is very beneficial to commercial landlords providing a tenant the option to purchase the commercial property. The contractual obligations of both parties will not be over ridden simply by one party’s assumption that it has complied with specific provisions of the contract.
Following are some issues that commercial landlords should review with their attorney before providing an option to purchase.
- Review the notice provisions of the option. For an option to be exercised correctly, it should be noticed pursuant to the terms of the contract. If the notice requires for certified mail, return receipt then the notice should be sent via that method. .
- Be sure to correctly exercise the option. When an option is exercised, it is important for the party exercising that option to ensure that all portions are exercised. In this case, the tenant only attempting to exercise his option to purchase the property. He did not exercise any option to extend the lease term. Due to the tenants failure to exercise his option to extend the lease period, when the landlord rejected his offer to purchase the property, the tenant had no recourse.
- Is this the final version of the lease? In this case, the landlord’s counsel was acute to note to send a “draft” contract without any signatures. The landlord did not agree to these terms but rather put a “draft” contract out for the tenant’s review. As such, when the tenant signed it, the contract was still in flux at this point.
For more information on exercising options under a contract or enforcing rights of specific performance under a commercial lease, please feel free to contact Tom Onder of Stark & Stark’s Commercial Litigation and Creditor’s Rights Group at (609) 219-7458 or via email a tonder@Stark-Stark.com.
