With the onset of the global pandemic, questions related to lease clauses involving force majeure—literally, “superior force” but often interpreted as “acts of God”—loom in retail real estate: Does the pandemic qualify as a force majeure event? If so, are tenants justified in declining to pay rent? What protection do these clauses provide to landlords?

The former Trinity Hospital sits on a beautiful wooded campus just 7 minutes from downtown Birmingham & on the edge of the wealthiest community in Alabama.

I have a headache and you probably do too from all the information that is being fired at us in the form of emails, webinars, podcasts, and news reports. And yes, I acknowledge the hypocrisy of adding more info to your inbox, but since I put these thoughts together and since I think there is some originality to the thinking, I wanted to share this information with you.

It seems that the hottest topic of conversation over the past few days is what to do when a tenant’s business is adversely affected by “the virus”. Based upon conversations with landlords, tenants and property managers there is no doubt that many tenants and landlords are already thinking about how to handle the April 1st rent payment.

The Retail Brokers Network (RBN) members are an agent’s best source of information. Getting on the national calls, helping to run them, or simply participating helps you get to know the other 700+ members – and the more people you know, the more information you get. You’ll find out which tenants are active, who’s in trouble, which tenants are clients of RBN members, and how deal terms vary from market to market.