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Clear leases, communication works best for tenants, landlords.

Article Excerpt
Most businesspeople have probably heard about commercial tenant nightmares. The tenant trashes the place and leaves owing several months rent. On the flip side, some tenants have problems getting landlords to respond in a timely manner to maintenance problems.

What can be done to avoid conflict between business tenants and their landlords, or resolve problems if they arise?

There are always issues that pop up, said Hugh Johnson, broker associate-property manager for J. Walter Michel Inc., which manages 23 buildings around Jackson.

"You try to handle them the best you can," Johnson said. "Most of the time the issues are minor. But occasionally there are major items or what tenants think are major items. The key to it is having a good management team and maintenance people. We have great maintenance people on call 24-7. If something occurs, they take a look at it as quickly as possible. You have to jump on problems quick. The tenants...