Real Estate & Property Law
Oops. Donald Trump, Tenant, Signed His Own Landlord Lease
Posted May 13, 2009, 06:12 pm CST
By Martha Neil
A New York lawyer suing to evict Donald Trump's company from several Manhattan co-op apartment units it is renting is chortling over the real estate mogul's lease.
Seems that Trump, when leasing out his own property, has tenants sign a rental agreement that is highly pro-landlord, reports the Am Law Daily. And, presumably expecting not to have problems paying the rent, Trump used the same lease for the co-op rentals in which his Trump Corp. is the tenant.
"If you don't pay the rent when Donald Trump is your landlord, he comes down on you like a hammer," says Andrew Perel. A Steptoe & Johnson partner, he is the president of the Trump Plaza Owners Inc. co-op and is not acting as legal counsel in the matter. "Well lo and behold, he signed a lease that was his own lease, and he's the tenant. And he missed April and May."
A spokeswoman for Trump's company didn't offer any immediate comment when contacted by the legal publication.
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