Negotiating Real Estate Contracts in a COVID-19 World: Strategies for Success

The recent pandemic and related economic downturn have caused numerous changes and challenges in real estate law, especially when it comes to negotiating contracts. This course, taught by Illinois real estate attorney Erica Crohn Minchella, will provide effective strategies for negotiating as landlords or tenants given business interruption for tenants, thoughts on how to pursue business interruption insurance claims to help provide a source of revenue for the payment of rent, suggestions for using a sale/leaseback provision to improve a business's cash position, and will examine how condo deconversions are working currently and might work moving forward given the changing face of residential tenancies. The condo diversion section of this course will be focused on Illinois law as an example, but the negotiation strategies provided are widely applicable and will be of use to attorneys nationwide.

Learning Objectives:

1. Examine the role of the pandemic on Force Majeure, Frustration of Purpose or Impossibility provisions, and explore related negotiation tactics

2. Review negotiation tips for landlords or tenants bringing business interruption claims against insurance companies 

3. Discuss sale/lease buybacks as an option to improve cash position

4. Examine the status of condo diversions and how they might change given the tidal wave of change facing residential tenancies