5 ms·

Seems HN is does not have expertise in this and who holds the cards in the current market in SF. The lease previously negotiated by the past regime has little

Seems HN is does not have expertise in this and who holds the cards in the current market in SF. The lease previously negotiated by the past regime has little relevance as Twitter is currently occupying less than 50% of the floor space. The landlord has to either accept lower payment, or look for a new tenant and Twitter moves to Austin. Given the current environment in SF, it's likely a new tenant won't be found for years.

salawat 4y ago
That's cool. That doesn't excuse squatting, and a good faith effort requires reconvening at the negotiating table to formulate new terms; not just ghosting and coasting until the landlord engages in litigation, or holding somebody else over a barrel.
- skippyboxedhero 4y ago
  In my experience, that is almost never how it works. Landlords have to take a hard line. They negotiate with a tenant and then the whole building stops paying rent the next week. The same thing is happening in retail as offices. Rents are, mostly, way higher than the market and landlords are quite happy for that to continue. Eventually the market is going to crack, I think everyone has acknowledged that...but landlords aren't going to be the ones to crack it themselves.
jeffbee 4y ago
What a completely bizarre interpretation of contract law. Lessors may be in a bind after the lease expires, but during the term of the lease they are entitled to its terms. Nobody can simply stop performing the terms of a lease, outside of bankruptcy.
- recuter 4y ago
  Sometimes to get out of the lease you break the contract. This contingency and associated penalties are often clearly specified in the contract. That being said, I would bet the article is just lazy journalists trolling for clicks as usual.
- maxclark 4y ago
  Enforced how? Sure you have a contract but you need to enforce it. So you have to sue which takes time - a lot of time. Then you “win” but the other party can still not pay, or they could appeal - back to court and even more time. The landlord has an iron clad contract sure - but Twitter has what they want ($) and the leverage as a result.
  - enkid 4y ago
    How does twitter get out of paying short of bankruptcy?
    - zackees 4y ago
      [dead]
  - MonkeyMalarky 4y ago
    The way you describe it, it sounds like you think he's being smart. I wonder if you and all the others with a similar opinion feel the same about residential tenets who don't pay their rent?
  - simplicio 4y ago
    I mean, the article is about the landlord suing Twitter, so the question of how they plan to enforce the terms of the lease seems to have been answered. Note the landlord here is a big national firm. They're not going to be scared off by having to take things to court, and even beyond the $ at stake, they're pretty highly incentivized not to let customers wriggle out of paying leases just because there'd be lawyers involved in enforcement.
- Someone 4y ago
  I think xqcgrek2 says “has to” in the pragmatic sense. It likely is true that the landlord can legally force Twitter to pay up, but if that leads to Twitter’s bankruptcy, they won’t get the money. Also, if they end up with a building that isn’t rented out, they may have to devalue their property and take a huge administrative loss. If their personnel’s bonuses are somewhat tied to their balance capital and/or revenues, their employees won’t want to end up there. It is a bit of playing chicken. If the landlord thinks Twitter will go down if they play it as hard as possible, they will (grudgingly) accept changes to the lease contract. A common tactic is to decrease rents per m² or decrease the amount of floor space in exchange for restarting the lease period (e.g. if they’re in year 4 of a five year lease period, halve the rent, but start a new five year period). That way, the landlord can (somewhat) declare this as a victory because there’s more ‘certainty’ that the property will still make money in three years time.
- starkd 4y ago
  The point is they want them to renew the lease. He is likely to move it anyway, if SF keeps harassing him. They recently did inspections and threatened him with eviction.
  - Zigurd 4y ago
    Odd how enforcing standards is "harassing."
    - starkd 4y ago
      [flagged]
  - jeffbee 4y ago
    Again, this article is not about their headquarters office on Market St.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

salawat 4y ago

That's cool. That doesn't excuse squatting, and a good faith effort requires reconvening at the negotiating table to formulate new terms; not just ghosting and coasting until the landlord engages in litigation, or holding somebody else over a barrel.

skippyboxedhero 4y ago
In my experience, that is almost never how it works. Landlords have to take a hard line. They negotiate with a tenant and then the whole building stops paying rent the next week. The same thing is happening in retail as offices. Rents are, mostly, way higher than the market and landlords are quite happy for that to continue. Eventually the market is going to crack, I think everyone has acknowledged that...but landlords aren't going to be the ones to crack it themselves.

jeffbee 4y ago

What a completely bizarre interpretation of contract law. Lessors may be in a bind after the lease expires, but during the term of the lease they are entitled to its terms. Nobody can simply stop performing the terms of a lease, outside of bankruptcy.

recuter 4y ago
Sometimes to get out of the lease you break the contract. This contingency and associated penalties are often clearly specified in the contract. That being said, I would bet the article is just lazy journalists trolling for clicks as usual.
maxclark 4y ago
Enforced how? Sure you have a contract but you need to enforce it. So you have to sue which takes time - a lot of time. Then you “win” but the other party can still not pay, or they could appeal - back to court and even more time. The landlord has an iron clad contract sure - but Twitter has what they want ($) and the leverage as a result.
- enkid 4y ago
  How does twitter get out of paying short of bankruptcy?
  - zackees 4y ago
    [dead]
- MonkeyMalarky 4y ago
  The way you describe it, it sounds like you think he's being smart. I wonder if you and all the others with a similar opinion feel the same about residential tenets who don't pay their rent?
- simplicio 4y ago
  I mean, the article is about the landlord suing Twitter, so the question of how they plan to enforce the terms of the lease seems to have been answered. Note the landlord here is a big national firm. They're not going to be scared off by having to take things to court, and even beyond the $ at stake, they're pretty highly incentivized not to let customers wriggle out of paying leases just because there'd be lawyers involved in enforcement.
Someone 4y ago
I think xqcgrek2 says “has to” in the pragmatic sense. It likely is true that the landlord can legally force Twitter to pay up, but if that leads to Twitter’s bankruptcy, they won’t get the money. Also, if they end up with a building that isn’t rented out, they may have to devalue their property and take a huge administrative loss. If their personnel’s bonuses are somewhat tied to their balance capital and/or revenues, their employees won’t want to end up there. It is a bit of playing chicken. If the landlord thinks Twitter will go down if they play it as hard as possible, they will (grudgingly) accept changes to the lease contract. A common tactic is to decrease rents per m² or decrease the amount of floor space in exchange for restarting the lease period (e.g. if they’re in year 4 of a five year lease period, halve the rent, but start a new five year period). That way, the landlord can (somewhat) declare this as a victory because there’s more ‘certainty’ that the property will still make money in three years time.
starkd 4y ago
The point is they want them to renew the lease. He is likely to move it anyway, if SF keeps harassing him. They recently did inspections and threatened him with eviction.
- Zigurd 4y ago
  Odd how enforcing standards is "harassing."
  - starkd 4y ago
    [flagged]
- jeffbee 4y ago
  Again, this article is not about their headquarters office on Market St.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]