Hi,
Long ques...pls bear with me!
I am a first time small business owner. Last year an opportunity came up to rent 500 sq ft of unit in a small business zoned strip mall at a great rent. Unfortunately life being life, after i moved in and started setting up there was a serious family illness and I paid rent on a store that never opened for 10 months.
Well now everything is ok so I went to get a business license at the town hall and was told I needed an occupancy permit (for some reason I thought these were only needed for new construction or reconstruction of commercial buildings...I was wrong!) No prob. I went over to the bldg inspectors office and got a form to fill out by myself and signed off by various departments after their inspections. I didn't even get past the town collectors office, where I was told that I would not be able to get a permit because my landlord owed over six figures in property taxes (the property I am renting) and had what is called a "tax title" on her property and that it was in litigation. I asked how long she had owed the taxes for and was told "years".
It is my assumption (I know, I know never assume...) that since she has been a landlord for a very long time, has a business partner (her brother) that she knows the laws and by-laws of being a commercial lessor in Massachusetts.
In plain English, she knew the whole time I was forking over rent to her that I would never be given an occupancy permit because she owed such a large amount of money in back property taxes.
Do I have any recourse for recouping any of the rent money given to her or is it an expensive lesson to me for not going for the occupancy permit when I first moved into the space last year?
Never mind all the money I put into stocking product, cash registers, paint, furniture, etc...
Sorry so long and I hope not too confusing...
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