Problem 18.10

Tenant, Inc., the lessee of office space in an office building, planned to move its offices and sought a sublessee to take over the premises for the remainder of its lease term. Sublet, Inc. was interested in subleasing the premises, but it needed to make alterations to the premises to make them suitable for the conduct of its business. However, Tenant's lease forbad any alterations to the premises without the written permission of Prime Lessor, Inc., the lessor under the original lease to Tenant. This provision applied to any subtenant of the premises as well. Tenant and Sublet entered into a sublease of the premises that recorded the alterations that Sublet intended to make and stated:

Tenant shall obtain Prime Lessor's written consent to the proposed alterations specified in this sublease and deliver such consent to Sublet on or before January 30, 2022. If Sublet has not received Prime Lessor's written consent by that date, this sublease will be deemed to be null and void and of no further force or effect, and neither party shall have any rights or obligations to the other.

Tenant did get Prime Lessor's consent to the alterations in time, and informed Sublet of this by telephone on January 29, 2022. However, Tenant did not deliver Prime Lessor's written consent to Sublet until February 1, 2022. Sublet refused to go forward with the sublease, arguing that the condition requiring Prime Lessor's written consent had not been fulfilled because Tenant had failed to deliver the written consent to Sublet on time.

(b)

Might the answer be different if the provision stated, "Tenant shall obtain Prime Lessor's written consent to the proposed alterations specified in this sublease and submit it to Sublet on or before January 30, 2022. If Tenant does not submit Prime Lessor's consent to Sublet by that date, this sublease will be deemed to be null and void and of no further force or effect, and neither party shall have any rights or obligations to the other"?