How can I free my Ohio company from its existing lease?

When most Ohio business owners sign a lease, many are so excited to have found a place that they sign their name on the line without combing through its terms or trying to negotiate a more favorable agreement. It’s only when they find they’ve bitten off a little more than they can chew that a Cincinnati company owner will consult with an attorney to find out what they can do to get out of their commercial lease as painlessly as possible. One valid reason that you may be able to get your company released from their lease is if your landlord breaches the contract that you signed in some kind of “substantive” way. If they promised to fix a serious construction defect such as the building’s leaking roof, yet their failure to do so resulted in it caving in, then this may be considered a major breach of contract. If you’re looking to find a way to free your company from its lease, then you may find it helpful to look more closely at your contract’s terms and conditions. You may find that the clauses included in it allow you to terminate the agreement if another company that has set up shop in the same building pulls out. You may also find that it may contain a bailout clause that allows you to terminate your lease if your sales don’t take off as much as you expected. When you look at the contract’s terms and conditions, you should check to see if it allows you to sublease or assign the space to someone else. If it does, then you may have found a way to transfer all of your responsibilities to pay to someone else. If it doesn’t allow for this, then you may see if your landlord would be open to a lump-sum payoff to release you from your contract. One common reason that companies end up in litigation with one another is over real estate disputes. Business owners often sign leases that are more restrictive than they should have been. They often include variable rent rates, too long of terms or the included provisions fail to protect them from other tenants’ actions. An attorney can advocate for your interests when negotiating a contract so that you’re not having to figure out how to get out of an existing one.