Bel Air, MD asked in Real Estate Law and Landlord - Tenant for Maryland

Q: I have a commercial lease client who says they've installed footing in our arena. Now they want to take it. Can they?

When our client moved in, we had footing. Our footing was replaced and our agreement was that we would retain the new footing after they left. Now they've hired an attorney who is saying they're going to take the footing and leave nothing. Shouldn't our footing be a fixture that we retain? And if not, our lease states they need to leave the property in as good or better condition than when they found it - which would mean we would need to have our old footing or comparable back. Am I understanding the law correctly?

1 Lawyer Answer
Richard Sternberg
Richard Sternberg
Answered
  • Potomac, MD
  • Licensed in Maryland

A: Sounds like you need a lawyer to answer them. Unless altered by the lease, fixtures to property remain part of the property. Further, if the lease proscribes alterations without approval, there shouldn't have been any alterations, and, if the alteration was permitted, the approval should have specified that the alteration was a fixture. You need a lawyer to review your facts.

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