3 ms·

I kinda agree. If the restaurant rents then the landlord renting out their space as restaurant space should be liable

tssva 4y ago
The restaurant owners chose to rent a property with knowledge that they were going to operate a restaurant on the property, and they also knew or should have known the accessibility requirements for restaurants. Why shouldn't they be liable.
- bell-cot 4y ago
  As a generality, both the economy and the legal system work far better when the seller of a good (or landlord of a rental property) bears the burden of making sure that his goods/properties are in compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, etc. And "fit for purpose", etc. If you wanted to rent an office, an apartment, or even a '5 x 10' self-storage unit, would you find it reasonable for Step 1 to be "hire a team of property lawyers and inspectors, to find out if the place I want to rent is in compliance with all current Federal, State, County, City, and Historical District laws, standards, rules, regulations..."? I'm thinking "no". "Accessibility" is one of many legal requirements for a restaurant, and very few of the people who might want to open a restaurant are property lawyers.
- JCharante 4y ago
  Isn't the property zoned for a commercial space / a restaurant though? And when you sign a lease for a commercial space it states what you're allowed to do and even what types of F&B businesses aren't allowed there if it's a strip mall.
  - bell-cot 4y ago
    And - if you want to make material changes to the property, then pretty much everything has to be pre-approved, inspected, etc. by both the landlord and the local municipality's bureaucrats and building inspectors.
- altairprime 4y ago
  If ADA ramps are mandatory for all businesses, which in theory they ought to be due to non-discrimination being a universal need — then the property is unfit for renting if it doesn’t have an ADA-accessible ramp, and penalizing the tenant allows the landlord to re-lease it over and over as each tenant gets shut down. Penalizing the landlord is the only way to ensure that the lawsuit leads to curative action to the property rather than a tenant change without action.

The restaurant owners chose to rent a property with knowledge that they were going to operate a restaurant on the property, and they also knew or should have known the accessibility requirements for restaurants. Why shouldn't they be liable.

bell-cot 4y ago
As a generality, both the economy and the legal system work far better when the seller of a good (or landlord of a rental property) bears the burden of making sure that his goods/properties are in compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, etc. And "fit for purpose", etc. If you wanted to rent an office, an apartment, or even a '5 x 10' self-storage unit, would you find it reasonable for Step 1 to be "hire a team of property lawyers and inspectors, to find out if the place I want to rent is in compliance with all current Federal, State, County, City, and Historical District laws, standards, rules, regulations..."? I'm thinking "no". "Accessibility" is one of many legal requirements for a restaurant, and very few of the people who might want to open a restaurant are property lawyers.
JCharante 4y ago
Isn't the property zoned for a commercial space / a restaurant though? And when you sign a lease for a commercial space it states what you're allowed to do and even what types of F&B businesses aren't allowed there if it's a strip mall.
- bell-cot 4y ago
  And - if you want to make material changes to the property, then pretty much everything has to be pre-approved, inspected, etc. by both the landlord and the local municipality's bureaucrats and building inspectors.
altairprime 4y ago
If ADA ramps are mandatory for all businesses, which in theory they ought to be due to non-discrimination being a universal need — then the property is unfit for renting if it doesn’t have an ADA-accessible ramp, and penalizing the tenant allows the landlord to re-lease it over and over as each tenant gets shut down. Penalizing the landlord is the only way to ensure that the lawsuit leads to curative action to the property rather than a tenant change without action.