Chapter 195 The Help

Katherine knew very little about renting properties, so she let Marshall and Peter do the talking when
negotiating with the landlord. The four of them sat around a square table, and Katherine busied herself
with reading the lease the landlord had brought over for her. Having gone through the whole document,
Katherine couldn’t find anything she had a different opinion on.

Marshall was sitting next to her, waiting for her to finish reading. “Let me see that.”

Katherine passed the lease over.

As Marshall caught it, his gaze landed squarely on Katherine’s finger. The diamond ring was seriously
very bright. Marshall stared at Katherine’s finger for a couple of seconds before glancing at her.
Katherine, on the other hand, was too occupied with renting the property to notice the look on his face.

Peter inquired the landlord about the basic details of this store, including its usable area and the
specific places they were allowed to change if they redecorated. The landlord was apparently taken
aback by Peter’s professionalism.

Having read the contract, Marshall made two points. “This lease is filled with the obligations of the
lessee but makes no mention of our rights. That certainly won’t fly. Also, shouldn’t we be the party to
pay for electricity and water use? How come you should decide our utility bills?”

Katherine took the lease to check it out. Indeed, there was a clause which stipulated that monthly utility
bills should be paid to the landlord along with the rent, and that utilities cost would accommodate the
market quotations of commercial property rentals.

Katherine didn’t understand what a “market quotation” was. In fact, she hadn’t read through this part at
all.



The landlord looked embarrassed for a second. “This has always been how I do business, and the
policy’s the same for all the stores along this street. Go ahead and ask them if you don’t believe me.”

“Can you tell me, then,” Marshall asked, cracking a smile, “the utilities costs that you charge?”

The landlord smiled slightly uncomfortably. “For this commercial store, electricity costs a buck per
kilowatt hour, and water costs a buck per ton. More than three tons of water and it’s one and a half
bucks per ton.”

“Is that so?” asked Marshall as he put down the lease, “Well then, I don’t see a point in furthering this
conversation.” Looking over at Katherine, he said, “I can find you other places with better locations, and
their utilities cost pricings will comply with state regulations.”

Katherine, mouth slightly open, wasn’t comprehending what was happening.

Marshall had stood up after speaking. “It just so happens that I know somebody on this street. I’ll
simply ask them about their utilities charge.”

Marshall turned to look at Margaret who, standing behind the counter, had an equally confused look on
her face.

“Did you sign your contract like this as well?” Marshall asked.

“Um, yes…?” said Margaret. She, too, had subleased this place from someone else. She hadn’t
thought much about the arrangement, content that it was much more convenient to pay the utility bills
along with rent.

Marshall smirked briefly, as Peter stood up and said to Katherine, “Let’s get out of here. You should’ve
talked to my boss before you tried to rent a place. He’s got plenty of properties under his name. He
could’ve easily allocated one to you and be done with this.”



Katherine couldn’t help standing up with him. “I don’t want any of his stuff. I want to be on my own.”

The landlord, too, stood up immediately. “Wait! Wait, wait,” he called, as Marshall, Peter, and Katherine
all turned around to look at him.

“How long do you intend to rent this place? If it’s a long-term lease, there’s still room for negotiation.”
The landlord looked embarrassed as he added, “I’ve had tenants before who bailed out of this place
after a while without ever paying for utilities, and I had to clear the bills with my own money. That’s why
I set this rule to protect myself against future tenants like that one; because otherwise, I’d suffer a huge
loss.”

Well, it was SOME protection, to be charged so much higher than normal prices.


62fb1bb41dcb31934bd49bda