Question Removing Unauthorized Cabinets?

[2B]

A shopping complex is owned by an investment company out of state, as such, they do not monitor or check up on the location. there is not an onsite manager.
We were contacted as some of the tenants have been adding their own cabinet signs to the pylons that hold the location name. the investment company (complex owners) claim this is in violation of the lease agreement and want the tenant signs removed and disposed of without notifying the tenants and provided photos of disposal. Once they confirmed we were not the company that installed the signs.

We have already questioned them about their ownership and making sure there is a clause in the contract about removing the tenant cabinets. This seems like a nasty can of worms, as these cabinets were not paid for by the investment company and from all indication have not been notified about the removal.

I know I would be PISSED if I saw my sign being removed and/or found out it was destroyed without my permission.

Has anyone been involved in a similar situation, how did you handle it and the possible backlash?

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

Stay far away from that!

Its true some landlords own the tenant signs once they are attached to the building

 

[Jay Grooms]

To me, if it's on the pylon it could be fair game. I would want to read the lease.

 

[CanuckSigns]

Not worth the headaches

 

[netsol]

jay, don't be offended, but you are not a lawyer
your should tell you what type of work order and documentation you need for a job like this.
even after that...
we had some telco guys who ran wire for us quite regularly. you would hear the stories about people who suspected their phones were being tapped coming out and shooting at the telco guy. just for climbing the pole, across from the wrong house.

i eould be annoyed if you were taking down my nonconforming sign...

 

[Bobby H]

I wouldn't want to get in the middle of that situation unless my company was the one who built the original pylon sign on which the offending tenant cabinets are installed.

With that being said, I don't feel too sorry for the tenants who installed whatever they wanted to a shopping center sign without permission. The shopping center owner typically owns any multi-listing pylon sign structures on the property. The only exceptions are multi-listing pylon structures installed by a major, anchor tenant. In that case the anchor tenant owns the structure and has a whole lot of say over what can be added to it (if anything can be added to it at all). Either way, a tenant can't just go make additions or alterations to an existing sign without permission. The situation sounds shady enough that I wouldn't be surprised if the tenants put up those pylon sign cabinets without an installation permit from the city.

Even if it's just a simple face replacement job in an existing tenant sign cabinet our company always has the landlord in the loop, especially if we encounter any problems with the existing street sign structure.

Businesses who install tenant signs on existing sign structures without permission from the landlord don't know the structural and foundation details of the existing street sign. They don't know the wind and weight load it is engineered to hold.

Then there are visual standards to maintain on multi-listing shopping center street signs. Shopping center landlords often have rules about what can be installed on their street signs as well as the building fascias in the shopping center. If various tenants (and multiple sign companies) install whatever they want on the same shopping center street sign structure it doesn't take long for that street sign to end up looking downright terrible. More and more municipalities are banning these kinds of signs completely because of all the horrendous, random visual clutter that breaks out on them like weeds.

 

[Billct2]

Nope, not without written legal documentation from their lawyer that authorizes you to remove them. Even then, I probably wouldn't do it. Who are your current and future clients? This absentee landlord or the local business owners who may get a bad impression of you?

 

[2B]

Thanks for confirming the gut feeling, the backlash is too much of a possibility.

 

[Gino]

A quick call to City Hall, researching permits for 'said' signs in violation, should be all you need, if you wanna really get to the bottom of it lickety split. Any signs added after the initial permit acquisition would most likely be in codes violation and City Hall will/should have them taken care of. Also, that should be the so-called owners doing it, not you.

 

[Jay Grooms]

jay, don't be offended, but you are not a lawyer
your should tell you what type of work order and documentation you need for a job like this.
even after that...
we had some telco guys who ran wire for us quite regularly. you would hear the stories about people who suspected their phones were being tapped coming out and shooting at the telco guy. just for climbing the pole, across from the wrong house.

i eould be annoyed if you were taking down my nonconforming sign...

I'm not offended at all, and yes if I was thinking of taking the job. I would have an attorney look it over to make sure it's legit. But how do you substantiate being annoyed for someone taking down something you were told not to put up?

 

[Evan Gillette]

Why not contact the offending tenants and let them know what is going on, offer to consult on relocation or replacement of signage that aligns with lease and local codes. In the process, if you get consent from all parties you can get paid by the property manager to remove and get paid by the tenants for new signage. It might even appear as a bonus to some of the tenants that the property owner is footing the bill for removing their unauthorized signs. You might walk away with several new customers.

I realize this is not a likely outcome, but might be worth a shot, you don't really have anything to lose (assuming you dont have an existing relationship with the property owner).

 

[MikePro]

if they own the property, they can do what they want as long as it isn't contradicted in the terms of their leasing contracts.
I don't agree that it is good business practice, however, destroying your tenants' property without at least fair-warning... if you do go this route, at least make sure everything is documented.

 

[TimToad]

Why not contact the offending tenants and let them know what is going on, offer to consult on relocation or replacement of signage that aligns with lease and local codes. In the process, if you get consent from all parties you can get paid by the property manager to remove and get paid by the tenants for new signage. It might even appear as a bonus to some of the tenants that the property owner is footing the bill for removing their unauthorized signs. You might walk away with several new customers.

I realize this is not a likely outcome, but might be worth a shot, you don't really have anything to lose (assuming you dont have an existing relationship with the property owner).

Because most shopping center tenants who purposely circumvent the management company and lease requirements probably aren't the best clients to cultivate and likely did what they did out of being so cheap or under capitalized that they see nothing wrong in what they did.

 

[netsol]

I'm not offended at all, and yes if I was thinking of taking the job. I would have an attorney look it over to make sure it's legit. But how do you substantiate being annoyed for someone taking down something you were told not to put up?

 

[netsol]

i never said they made sense
that doesn't mean they aren't dangerous