Considering renting to the city or sheriff's department? Be very, very, very careful

Terry Klein reports on an only-in-Boston case involving the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department successfully weaseling out of a 10-year, $7-million lease for some office space.

Seems the lease contained a clause that said it would only go into effect when the city auditor approved the contract. Fair enough, right? Except the auditor, God only knows why, added this to his imprimatur:

APPROVED AS TO AVAILABILITY OF APPROPRIATION OR
PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 12.2 OF THE GENERAL CONDITIONS IN THE AMOUNT OF $0.00.

Which then called into play another section of the contract, reading:

"[w]hen the amount of the City Auditor's certification of available funds is less than the face amount of the Contract, the City shall not be liable for any claims or requests for payment by the Contractor which would cause total claims or payments under this Contract to exceed the amount so certified."

In other words, by signing the lease, Bradston Associates, LLC, agreed to release the sheriff's office from the lease with no penalty if the city auditor stamped it with some dumb clause and Andrea Cabral then decided to take her office needs elsewhere, according to the decision by the Massachusetts Appeals Court.