I lease a small commercial retail store. My landlord makes a habit of coming in and chatting up my employees and basically making a nuisance of himself. What rights do I have?

The basic deal between a landlord and a tenant is that in consideration for the payment of rent the tenant gets the right to exclusively use the premises that are the subject of the lease. The landlord has no right to be on the premises except for rights reserved under the lease. Those rights generally deal with making repairs or  maintenance to the building which generally requires notice and are limited to engaging in that activity. If there is an emergency in the premises, such as a broken pipe, than the landlord has a right of access in order to correct that problem. Sometimes in a lease the landlord will reserve the right during the latter part of the lease to show the premises to prospective tenants and the lease may provide that the landlord can show the premises for other purposes such as if the landlord is intending to refinance the building and needs to show the premises to prospective banks or an appraiser. What you should do is read your lease to specifically determine what rights the landlord has to come into your premises. Given the fact that you have a retail store means that you have implicitly invited the public into your store to view your wares. However you have a right to do business with who you want to and you have a right to exclude people you do not want to do business with. So after you review your lease to be sure of your grounds you can have a chat with you landlord and tell the landlord of your concerns and ask your landlord cease coming into the store. If your landlord continues to intrude you can either ask the assistance of the police or you can sue your landlord civilly to have him restrained from coming onto your premises.
 

If you have questions about this or any other legal matter, please contact Tom Bennett at (617) 531-6574 or tvb@barronstad.com.