As you're going through the process of buying a specific commercial property, you'll be working with many professionals to ensure the sale goes right. You may already know that you're going to need a lawyer experienced in real estate, but if you want to be well-prepared, it's smart to handle a commercial litigator to help you with your real estate deal. Litigators are in court often and know well what issues come up regarding commercial property owners. Through the lens of their expertise they can ensure your property deal will not cause legal problems and land you in court. Here's what they'll pay attention to.

Existing Leases

One of the main reasons a commercial property owners ends up in front of a judge is because of a dispute with a tenant. A good commercial litigator will not let you purchase a commercial property before pulling all the leases in place to check them out and look for potential problems. For example, if there are many nonpaying tenants, they may have an informal agreement about when they'll pay. Should you buy the property and create your own guidelines, there could be a problem. Your litigator will insulate you from these problems by working out a solution before you even purchase the place.

Building Violations

Before you start doing any building renovations, you''ll need to ask for permits. That process could reveal that past owners never did required upgrades and the property is in violation of fire and other code guidelines. As the current owner, you would be responsible for those things. A litigator knows that these situations are not uncommon and will therefore investigate permits before you buy.

Deed Issues

A major issue that needs to be looked at by a lawyer before your sale goes through is whether you're buying from the appropriate person. If someone sells a property to you under false pretenses, you aren't the legal owner. That may not be something you find out until later, which can create a messy situation. A smart litigator will have investigators examine past deeds and the parties involved so you don't have any problems.

This is also important because past owners could have been friendly with their neighbors, allowing easements, right-of-way movement and fencing. If none of those things were put down into a document, it's possible that as properties changed hands, it's never clear who owns what. Finding out what the property truly entails will give you peace of mind so that you can install fences or expand as you like, within the law.

A commercial litigator like Vandeventer Black LLP can protect your business interests and prevent legal trouble for you. Discuss your possible purchase with a litigator nearby.

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