As we studied in the first half of the semester, publicly traded REITs are requrired to have 75% of their assets invested in real estate, and derive 95% of gross income from rents. This means that regulators want REITs to focus on real estate and not delve into non real estate lines of business. Due to the Covid crisis, a lot of tenants are struggling to pay rent. This creates a situation for a negotiation of existing lease terms between the REIT and the tenant. Say your REIT owns a retail center and PetCo is one of your tenants and they are behind with their rent. PetCo offers the REIT an equity interest in its company in exchange for forgiveness of past due rent and lower rents moving forward. Due to the aforementioned regulations that govern publicly traded REITs, is this a negotiation option that REITs can use without limit?

True

False