Is my landlord responsible for my General Contractor's errors?.. More in Details.?

Question

The General Contractor I hired to finish out my store did not come close to meeting his assurances of when the job would be completed, which resulted in my store still not being open., which has caused me very serious financial problems.

After I accepted the terms of the proposed lease through e-mail, and sending in my Letter of Intent, the Landlord's agent sent me an e-mail. In this e-mail he provided me the names and phone numbers of 2 General Contractors whom he said "I need to talk to." He then said to meet with both, but as the Landlord's Agent, he can't recommend any contractor, so to meet with others, as well.

I did hire one of the 2 General Contractors that my Landlord's Agent specifically told me that I should meet with. As I stated above, this General Contractor was the direct cause for my store being nowhere even near ready when it was supposed to be, per his assurance.

My question is this... does my Landlord have any responsibility for the situation I'm now in?

Answer 1

Why would your landlord have any responsibility in this? It was not even your landlord, but an agent who made the recommendation.

Ultimately, you made the decision on which contractor to use. Did your contract not allow for Liquidated Damages (LD's) if the project was not completed by a certain date?

Answer 2

Legally: No.
Morally: I'd say yes.

The e-mail sent to you from the agent specifically stated that it was not to be constued as a recommendation. That gets them off the hook legally.
On the other hand, I would contact your landlord/agent and talk to them, tell them what is going on, and say that you cannot afford to pay them the amount owed on the lease due to your contractor issues. Ask for a discount, or a month free or something. The worst that can happen is they say no.
Hindsite is always 20/20, but for others reading this, always have a stipulation in your work contracts that it is to be done in a certain amount of time and what the penalty is if it is not. The bigger the project, the more important this is. (If you are hiring a plumber who is already at your house and not leaving till it is done, the timeframe is obvious.)

Answer 3

Call that Agent. Tell them what is going on. Contact the state real estate agency, commission or board in your state and find out for sure if the Agent is licensed. All you need is his name. When you call him, tell him that he needs to help you get this resolved or you are thinking of contacting the board about filing a claim against his license.

Then contact the local contractors license board and make sure that the contractor has a license. Call him and tell him you are considering filing a complaint against his license at the board. If you can't get some satisfaction from these two. Call the broker who the Agent works for and see if the threat of an official complaint gets them moving.

None of that works? Start your complaint filing.

always have your own real estate agent when doing real estate business. You just can't come up against commercial leasing agents on your own. And you never want to do most any kind of negotiating on your own. It just doesn't work.

Very best of luck.

Answer 4

The reason why the landlord'a agent did not make a recommendation of any contractor merely an introduction indicates to me that the onus remains with you....unfortunately, the landlord cannot be liable for YOUR mistake in choosing the wrong guy for the job.

Your recourse lies solely with the contractor and that is where I would start.......

Answer 5

Unfortunately it is your responsibility. You did not have to hire either of the contractors that were recommended to you. You hired the contractor not the landlord. It is yourself and the contractor who have to battle this out legally. I hope that you have a contract with the general contractor that states the intended finish date.