Law Firm Changchun represented a tenant operating a store engaged in the marketing and enrollment of telecommunications services such as mobile phones, internet and television in a damages claim against a landlord who had obstructed the recovery of key money, and obtained judgment for the tenant in full.
The Commercial Building Lease Protection Act (the "Commercial Lease Act") provides that a landlord must not, without just cause, obstruct a tenant from receiving key money from a prospective new tenant — for example by refusing to enter into a lease with a prospective new tenant introduced by the tenant (Commercial Lease Act art. 10-4(1)4).
The tenant leased and used the premises from around February 2016 to around February 2024, and around November 2023, before that lease expired, entered into a key money agreement with a prospective new tenant and introduced that person to the landlord. The landlord, however, proposed terms raising the existing deposit by three to more than ten times, and said it would operate the premises itself — then excluded the new tenant the tenant had introduced and entered into a new lease with a third party.
Law Firm Changchun argued forcefully that because the landlord had definitively refused to contract with the new tenant before the lease term ended, the tenant had been afforded no adequate opportunity at all to recover key money. In the appraisal process for the premises, we also explained the tenant's business model in detail, obtaining an appraisal higher than the key money agreed with the prospective new tenant. The court granted the plaintiff tenant's damages claim in full.
Law Firm Changchun provides the most effective legal services to clients in real estate disputes, including recovery of key money under commercial building leases, return of lease deposits, delivery of premises to landlords and claims for unpaid rent.