You lease commercial space. You run a business that’s open to the public. And you know your building has accessibility problems—no ramp at the entrance, restrooms that don’t meet ADA standards, a parking lot without proper accessible spaces. You’ve raised the issue with your landlord, maybe more than once, and the response has been some version of silence, a runaround, or a flat refusal.
Now you’re stuck. You can see the liability sitting there, waiting for a complaint or a lawsuit, and the person who actually owns the building won’t lift a finger to fix it.
This is a more common problem than most business owners realize. And the legal answer to the headline question is yes—there are circumstances where a commercial tenant can take legal action against a landlord who refuses to cooperate on ADA compliance. But the full picture is more complicated than a simple yes or no, and understanding the legal framework can help you protect your business before a claim lands on your desk.
The ADA Holds Both Landlords and Tenants Responsible
Here’s the part that surprises a lot of business owners: under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act, ADA compliance in commercial spaces is not exclusively the landlord’s problem or the tenant’s problem. It’s both.
42 U.S.C. § 12182 prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in any place of public accommodation. The statute applies to any private entity that owns, leases, leases to, or operates a place of public accommodation. That language is intentionally broad. It pulls in landlords and tenants alike, regardless of who controls what portion of the property.
The ADA National Network puts it bluntly: the law places the obligation to remove barriers on both the landlord and the tenant, and both remain legally responsible. What the lease says about who handles what is a matter between those two parties—it doesn’t shield either one from a third-party ADA claim.
The Department of Justice reinforces this in the ADA Title III Technical Assistance Manual, using a straightforward example: if a landlord and tenant divide ADA responsibilities in a lease and the tenant fails to remove barriers, both the landlord and the tenant can be sued by a customer. The lease allocation only matters when they’re arguing with each other about who should pay. To the outside world, they’re jointly liable.
Why This Creates a Real Problem for Tenants
If you’re running a restaurant, a retail store, a medical office, or any other business open to the public, and a customer with a disability encounters a barrier at your location, you can be named in a lawsuit. It doesn’t matter that the barrier is in a common area your landlord controls. It doesn’t matter that you’ve been begging your landlord to install a ramp for months. Under the ADA, the fact that you operate a place of public accommodation in that space is enough to make you a defendant.
That’s a hard pill to swallow when the fix is something only your landlord has the authority or the financial resources to implement. You can’t exactly jackhammer your landlord’s parking lot and pour new concrete without their permission. But the ADA doesn’t care about the internal dynamics of your lease. It cares about whether people with disabilities can access your business.
The practical result is that tenants often end up absorbing legal exposure for problems they didn’t create and can’t unilaterally solve. That’s exactly the situation where legal action against the landlord starts to make sense.
What the Lease Says—and What It Doesn’t
Most commercial leases have provisions about who handles maintenance, structural modifications, and legal compliance. Some are specific. Many are vague. Almost all of them include some version of an indemnification clause.
These clauses matter in the landlord-tenant relationship. If your lease says the landlord is responsible for structural modifications and common-area maintenance, and they refuse to make ADA-required changes in those areas, that’s a potential breach of contract. If your lease has an indemnification provision requiring the landlord to hold you harmless for claims arising from their maintenance obligations, you may have a path to shift liability back to them if a third party sues you.
But here’s the critical limitation: no lease provision can eliminate ADA liability to the outside world. In Botosan v. Paul McNally Realty, 216 F.3d 827 (9th Cir. 2000), the Ninth Circuit was direct on this point—a landlord cannot contract away its ADA obligations through a lease clause. The lease might give you an indemnification claim against the landlord after the fact, but it won’t prevent the lawsuit from being filed against you in the first place.
That’s why thinking about ADA compliance at the lease-negotiation stage is so important. And if you’re already in a lease with a non-cooperative landlord, that’s why having a lawyer involved early—before a claim is filed—gives you the most options.
What “Barrier Removal” Requires Under the Law
For existing buildings, Title III requires the removal of architectural barriers where doing so is “readily achievable.” The regulations define readily achievable as easily accomplishable without much difficulty or expense. The analysis considers the cost of the modification, the financial resources of both the business and the property owner, the type of operation, and the impact on the facility.
Installing a ramp over a few steps, widening a doorway, adding grab bars in a restroom, re-striping a parking lot for accessible spaces—these are the kinds of modifications that courts and the DOJ have consistently treated as readily achievable for most commercial properties. They’re not extraordinary measures. They’re basic.
When a landlord refuses to make modifications that meet this standard, they’re not just being difficult—they may be independently violating the ADA. And their refusal is creating legal exposure for every tenant in the building who operates a place of public accommodation.
Your Legal Options Against the Landlord
If your landlord won’t cooperate on ADA compliance, several legal theories may be available to you depending on the facts and your lease terms.
A breach of lease claim may apply if the lease allocates maintenance, structural modification, or legal compliance obligations to the landlord. Their failure to meet those obligations—especially after you’ve put them on written notice—is a straightforward breach. Depending on Illinois commercial landlord-tenant law and your specific lease language, remedies could include damages, rent abatement, or the right to make modifications yourself and deduct the cost from rent.
Contribution and indemnification are relevant when a third party sues you for ADA violations that stem from the landlord’s failure to act. You can file a cross-claim or third-party action against the landlord to share or shift the liability. If the violation is in a common area or involves structural elements that are clearly the landlord’s responsibility, the argument for full indemnification is strong.
A declaratory judgment action—asking a court to formally declare who is responsible for what—can be a useful proactive step. It forces the issue before a third-party lawsuit materializes and can create enough pressure to bring the landlord to the table.
The Department of Justice can also pursue civil penalties for Title III violations, currently up to $75,000 for a first violation and $150,000 for subsequent violations. While DOJ enforcement actions are less common than private lawsuits, the risk exists, and it’s another reason landlords should be motivated to comply.
The Employment Side of ADA Compliance
ADA Title III is about access for customers and the public. But if you employ workers with disabilities, Title I of the ADA imposes separate obligations on you as an employer to provide reasonable workplace accommodations.
If your leased space isn’t physically accessible to an employee who uses a wheelchair, has a mobility impairment, or needs other physical accommodations, you could face an employment discrimination claim alongside a public accommodation claim. That’s compounding exposure from two different sections of the same federal statute, and it can get expensive fast.
This is another reason why ADA issues in commercial leases need to be addressed head-on rather than ignored and hoped away. The longer accessibility barriers go unaddressed, the more legal surface area you’re creating.
What You Should Do Right Now
If you know your commercial space has ADA compliance issues and your landlord isn’t cooperating, there are steps you can take to protect your business.
Put your concerns in writing. Don’t rely on phone calls or hallway conversations. Send a letter or email to your landlord specifically identifying the accessibility barriers, requesting that they be addressed, and noting the legal exposure both of you face. Keep copies of everything, including any response—or non-response—you receive.
Review your lease. Look at the provisions governing maintenance, structural modifications, legal compliance, and indemnification. Understanding what your lease says—and what it doesn’t say—will shape your legal strategy.
Get an accessibility assessment. Hiring a qualified ADA consultant to evaluate your space gives you a concrete, professional inventory of issues. It also shows that you’ve been proactive, which matters if you’re later defending yourself in litigation.
Talk to a business litigation attorney. If your landlord is stonewalling you on ADA compliance, you need to understand your rights and your options before a complaint or a lawsuit forces the issue on someone else’s timeline.
For more on how public accommodation discrimination works and what businesses need to know, we’ve covered that topic in depth.
Don’t Let Your Landlord’s Inaction Become Your Liability
ADA compliance in commercial real estate involves federal disability law, Illinois landlord-tenant law, and the practical realities of how commercial leases work. Getting the right outcome requires an attorney who understands all three.
If your landlord’s refusal to make ADA accommodations is putting your business at risk, you have options. Don’t wait until you’re named in a lawsuit to find out what they are.
Contact 1818 for a free consultation. We’ll review your lease, assess your exposure, and help you figure out the best path forward.
