ForumsLegal and Insurance

In any lease agreements I've seen, lease assignment is with the consent of the landlord. The seller (you, in this case), is usually responsible for securing that consent, and the landlord (recognizing that he has leverage in the situation) will usually demand something in exchange for consent such as an increase in rent or a cash payment.

Typically, sellers make their best efforts to obtain consent -- they may bear all of the cost of doing do, or may shift some of the burden to the buyer. For example the seller may agree to reimburse the buyer for rent increases up to a certain amount (the current market rate, for instance), but no more -- the buyer would agree to bear any cost above that. Another option might be for the seller to reduce the purchase price by a certain amount for each specified percentage in rent increase that the landlord demands.

Bottom line, the situation you describe sounds normal to me -- it's normal for the landlord to demand more in exchange for consent, and normal for the buyer to back out of the deal if you're not bearing some of the burden to obtain consent. As far as your legal rights in this situation, that's a beyond my experience and expertise. That might not be exactly the answer you wanted, but I hope it helps. Good luck in moving this deal foward.

In my experience, the normal practice/assumption/expectation is that an increase will take place in the event of a lease assignment -- so I'd think the contract would have to specifically say that it could not, otherwise it can. Again, that's just based on my experiences -- by all means, consult with an attorney to resolve any questions or doubts.