Most commercial leases prohibit a tenant from assigning or subleasing the leased premises to another party without first obtaining the landlord’s consent. Often, a commercial tenant will execute a lease failing to insert language that a landlord will act reasonably when a tenant requests the landlord’s consent to an assignment or sublease. A tenant, at the very least, should negotiate that a landlord’s consent to an assignment or sublease should not be unreasonably withheld, conditioned, or delayed. Most tenants do not realize that they could be in default under a lease simply because of the sale of their company and/or reorganization of their company, which could require an assignment of their lease. Landlords could possibly hold up the sale/merger of a company because the landlord wants to renegotiate the lease as a condition to granting an assignment. .
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