My lease was recently up and I faxed a copy to extend to the landlord. They then raised the cam and rent(the rent I knew) plus they gave a cam reconciliation saying my portion was an additional 2600.00. I am unable to maintain the store and want to close. They wanted me to come in and sign the lease with a witness and I told them I would be closing. Can they bind me to the new lease without an original, witnessed signature and can I get my security deposits back?
You should consult an attorney that specializes in contract law, but generally speaking, a faxed signature can be legally binding and a witness is not required. A security deposit can be used to pay any outstanding cam reconciliation or pay outstanding rent. If you have entered into a new lease, I doubt you will get any of it back and they can also come after you for the new lease payments. They cannot double charge for rent- i.e. if they lease the space to someone else.
General observation: Since the lease condition was altered (cam reconciliation) **after** you faxed it across, you should not be bound by it. Unless there was a clause in the old lease binding you to sign the new lease, you should be able to avoid signing the new lease without penalty. PS: Depending on your place of residence, the laws could be different. I am not a lawyer - and I am not advising you legally.
Cam reconciliation is not changing or "altering" the terms of the lease. Tenants pay an estimated amount of CAM each month and when the actual costs are known at the end of the year, you receive a credit or bill to reconcile the actual charges the landlord paid. This is standard in every triple net lease. Read the question carefully, the new lease was already signed.
He says "My lease was recently up and I faxed a copy to extend to the landlord." At this point, he faxed a copy to extend. Fine. " They then raised the cam and rent(the rent I knew) plus they gave a cam reconciliation saying my portion was an additional 2600.00." At this point, the rent was raised. And, he had to bear an extra $2600 for common area maintenance. Yes, you are right that this was part of the original (old) agreement. But, those two factors give him possible reasons to get out of the new lease. "They wanted me to come in and sign the lease with a witness and I told them I would be closing. Can they bind me to the new lease without an original, witnessed signature and can I get my security deposits back?" This means, he has not signed the lease in the presence of a witness - I assumed he just faxed a request for extending his lease. After the faxing occurred, if changes occurred in the new lease compared to the old lease, and if the CAM charges are high compared to other nearby places, he may be able to opt out of the new lease. Again, I am not a lawyer - so, whatever I write needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. Just pointing out that if he wants to get out, he can use the above mentioned facts as leverage, while negotiating. He wanted to know how to get out /whether he can get out of the lease, rather than reasons of "why he can't"... Then again, you may be much better qualified to offer legal advice than me!
A witness is not required to sign a lease. It adds protection for the Landlord in the event the Tenant claims it isn't their signature. They signed the lease but wanted to know if they could enforce a faxed signature (yes). It's harder to prove a faxed signature belongs to the person - but that wasn't the question. "and if the CAM charges are high compared to other nearby places, he may be able to opt out of the new lease" Huh? There is absolutely no legal basis for that statement. It doesn't matter if the next door locations CAM was half or twice as much - the Tenant's portion is determined by the lease. CAM is for Common Area Maintenance. You can have different CAM amounts within the same shopping center - for instance, a lease which has language such as "leased" vs. "leasable" (GLA). If it says "leased", the landlord is responsible for CAM on any unleased space. A Landlord giving a year end bill for adjustment to the actual charges is how it always works and is never cause to terminate a lease. When you pay monthly NNN CAM, it is an "estimate" of what the expenses will be for the year (taxes, repairs, improvements, security, etc.) and the exact amount isn't known until after the year has ended. At one point, I had over 100 commercial leases for different locations in 38 states and every single one had a year end adjustment. It would be impossible to know the exact costs until the year has ended.
You may be right. The reason why I mentioned is that one of my friends was able to wriggle out of a lease because the actual CAM charges compared to the initial estimated charges were very high. (Other reasons were also there). Peace, Me.