Ah, the woes of leasing property to have a library. We have been housed in this location for 20 years and without problems. We had an absentee landlord who puts minimal effort into commercial properties and as you can see from the pic, we have paid the price.
Perhaps the biggest issue is our roof, which is flat and, I know this is surprizing, prone to leak. Finally, after dealing with leaks and damaged books for 18 years, they finally contracted a new roof in December of 2011. Pic says it all...we had torrential rains during the project and we lost 80 percent of ceiling tiles due to water pouring into the building. We had to close to 2 weeks. And to add insult to injury, a staff member reported the problem to Maryland Occupational and Safety Admin. Have to say, that might have been the closest I have come to retiring.
So here we are, 18 months alter and the rent for the next 6 months is due (we pay 6 months in advance). landlord's attorney has accused the county of not paying and plans to start the eviction process today. Now the county may do alot of questionable things, but rent payments is not one of them. However, this does beg the question..."how does one evict a library?" Throw all the books out on the sidewalk? Remove shelving? Good luck with that....
In any case, stay tuned....lease is still not signed. i may be looking for a basement to operate out of.
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