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Related Articles: Commercial Landlord

Tenant Loses Right To Remove Improvements

A Tenant gasoline service station seeks leave of court to remove buildings, improvements, fixtures and equipment that Tenant placed on the property. Tenant failed to properly extend or renew the lease in accordance with the specific terms of the lease. When Landlord filed suit for return of the premises, Tenant demanded a jury, which ruled in favor of the Landlord. The Tenant then claimed that the lease provided it 30 days from the termination of the lease within which to remove its property, which the Tenant calculated from the date of the jury verdict. The Landlord argued that the Tenant missed the 30 day period, which period began when the lease expired.

Despite the acceptance of rent by the Landlord, the Court ruled in favor of the Landlord because it had sent the Tenant a proper notice of termination. Therefore, the Tenant was not a "holdover tenant" but was a "tenant at sufferance" with no leasehold interest. B.H. Cobb Lumber v. Texaco, Henrico Circuit Court (2002)