Re-litigating a rent renewal clause in a long-term commercial
lease is often unavoidable. After adjudication of the
interpretation of a rent renewal clause, circumstances may change
before the next renewal. The parties may then adopt conflicting
interpretations, resulting in wildly divergent rent valuations. In
these cases, litigation may be the only option when the alternative
is a lopsided arrangement that is no longer commercially viable for
one of the parties. However, absent a significant or
"special" change in circumstances, a party will not be
permitted to re-litigate the clause simply because the rent is up
for renewal.
The importance of a rent renewal clause in a long-term lease
cannot be overstated. The amortization of major leasehold
developments can take up to forty years before a lessee/developer
recoups its investment. Many leases provide for a rent reset before
the amortization period ends, often every ten or twenty years. The
objective of the reset is
