I have a commercial lease in South Carolina.
The landlord is failing to enforce several sections of my lease regarding actions of another teant. I sent a registered letter outlining these issues to the landlord with no results. Do I have to take them to court and get a judge to rule? How can I do it myself without hiring a lawyer? Suggestions please?

In a commercial lease, the majority of your rights and remedies are contained within the lease rather than set by law. So you will have to read all of your lease very carefully to see what you can do next.

That being said, we also need to know more about the actions you're complaining of to the landlord. In what way is another tenant affecting you? Does your lease give you the right to self-help in certain situations? Do you have the right to withhold payment of rent for the landlord's failures? Even if you answer these questions for us it is likely that we cannot give you a complete answer.

I suggest that you meet with an attorney who offers free consultations to determine your options.

It is a complicated situation. There are 8 shops all retail but one which is a catering business. The lease states all employees vehicles are to be parked in the rear of the building. The tenant beside me has a catering business and has two high profile vans he parks in front of our store 20 hours a day average blocking most tenants street line of sight. His space is in the middle of all the units. Last month a burglar hid behind his vans until cars in the street had passed and smashed out my glass door and robbed me. I have all this on recorded video. Safety and security breaches my right to peacefully enjoy my space in my opinion. All of the other tenants feel the same as I do. Am I wrong to think the landlord has a legal obligation to assure a safe and secure property ?

Unfortunately, unless the lease specifically states that the landlord will take steps to assure a safe and secure property then he has no obligation to do so. However if there is another tenant who is violating lease terms by parking vehicles in front of the building, and if that tenant's actions are causing harm to your business and the landlord has been notified of this, then the landlord has an affirmative duty to take steps and prevent that tenant from continuing these actions.

Based on what you've said here I believe you have some recourse against the landlord but without reading your entire lease I cannot tell you what options are available to you. I strongly recommend that you get a free consultation with an attorney in your area who can review your lease and let you know your options.

I agree with Lisa that the landlord has no responsibility for your break in. The perp could have hidden behind any cars. And the landlord is not responsible for security unless the lease provides for it.

Another issue here is you said the lease specifies "employees vehicles". But, from your description, these aren't employee's vehicles, but vehicles owned by the business. So they may not be covered by the lease. However, if the vans are blocking spaces that customers of the retail shops would be using, you might be able to get the local police involved. Otherwise, I would get all the other retail shops to sign a petition demanding the landlord take action.

But, frankly, I'm not sure that either that tenant or the landlord has breached the lease.

Thanks Lisa. If I could post photos I think you'd see the situation a little more clearly. I think I will seek out legal counsel and see where it goes.

Scott, every shopping center lease I've ever seen always had a provision that the tenant would take no action that would cause harm to any other tenant in the shopping center. If this lease contains that provision then the OP may have action against the landlord for allowing the other tenant to continue to block visibility after notification.

I'm still not sure, even if such a clause exists, that it could be applied here. Unless taking up those spaces interferes with retail trade (which could be the case), then I'm not sure what harm parking those vans would cause. Surely you wouldn't say that the presence of those vans was a direct contributor to the break in?

To plumb,

You can attach photos to posts here. But I doubt if it would change things.

That clause would not be applicable in any case until after the OP had put the landlord on notice that the vehicles were blocking visibility. If the OP had previously sent a letter to the landlord, the landlord took no action and then a burglary occurred where the vehicle placement contributed to the situation then the OP would have a great case against the landlord. In this situation the landlord was not put on notice until after the burglary occurred.

In any event, if the vehicles are substantially blocking street visibility of the OP's business then it is extremely likely that the landlord, once put on notice, has an obligation to require the tenant to move them.