A: Quite simply, the answer depends on exactly what the LPA States either party will or will not do. Ordinarily termination or cancellation rights are expressly spelled out in contracts. This is why it is so important to have an attorney work on your documents rather than just using canned documents available on the Internet.
A: It really depends on the wording of your contract. From your note it sounds as if you have an enforceable contract (offer, acceptance, consideration, and it is legal). Unless you negotiated sales benchmarks/cutoffs, you may be stuck for the rest of the term. A possible approach might be for you to begin discussing next year and requiring sales thresholds in return for extending the contract. Before that, you may want to ask them to cancel the contract early since they haven't been able to achieve any sales. They may agree to that - you never know.
A: You must have their consent. In the general/miscellaneous provisions toward the bottom of the DOT, you should see a standard provision, stating that no amendment to the deed of trust will be valid unless evidenced by a fully executed written agreement.
A: In a vacuum, a landlord should not have a unilateral right to raise rent. A landlord may have the right to raise rents periodically, pursuant to the lease document. It is very much a contract issue. It depends on the exact wording of the lease agreement. The lease agreement will also detail the requirements for valid notification concerning the agreement. My experience over 25 years of practice is that most building lease agreements expressly provide for base rent to increase each year. A court will enforce most reasonable rental, escalation, clauses, and lease agreements. If there is no obvious language in the lease, the question becomes whether rental increase is implied under the wording of the document or an amendment to it. At the risk of being repetitive, it depends on what the lease says, if anything at all.
