[WSBARP] Commercial Lease without legal description

[Marcus Fry]

Kaitlyn,
I am on holiday so sorry for the brevity, but you should be researching cases of part performance and statute of fraud cases.
Best,
Marcus


Sent from my Samsung device


-------- Original message --------
From: Kaitlyn Jackson <kaitlyn at dimensionlaw.com>
Date: 12/27/18 2:00 PM (GMT-07:00)
To: WSBA Real Property Listserv <wsbarp at lists.wsbarppt.com>
Subject: [WSBARP] Commercial Lease without legal description

Hi all -

I have a PC with a commercial lease lease for a retail store that is for 10 years beginning in 2016. It is notarized by both parties. All normal contract terms are present. However, it does not have a valid legal description - it only has the address and suite number of the leased premises.

Landlord sold the property and the new owner is trying to terminate the lease (no information or notice of valid reasons to terminate other than "I'm the new owner and I want you out"). Tenant pays on time and is in compliance with all lease terms.

My only concern here is the lack of legal description. I can't seem to find the specific RCW or case law that requires a legal description under these circumstances.  All the case law I've seen has to do with leases that also contain option to purchase agreements; and, as such, require a valid legal description due to the presence of an option to purchase. I couldn't find any case law that specifically stated the lease is only valid if there is a legal description for just a regular commercial lease of a suite in a building.

I'm also hoping that in the presence of a notarized lease that was drafted by the landlord, that the lack of a legal description will not give the landlord the right to terminate since the landlord drafted the document.

Any help or advise is much appreciated.

--
Thank you,

Kaitlyn R. Jackson | Attorney| DIMENSION LAW GROUP PLLC
130 Andover Park East, Suite 300 | Tukwila, WA 98188
t: 206.973.3500 | f: 206.577.5090| e: kaitlyn at dimensionlaw.com| www.dimensionlaw.com<http://www.dimensionlaw.com/>

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