Can he spy...?

My friend rented out an office space. He has been there for 8 months and still has 4 months left on lease. Recently, the owner moved some of his personal belongings into the rented space. My friend decieded that he wanted out of the space b/c of this. He has gotten another office and moved his things out. He got a call from the owner stateing that he "watched" him move his belongings out and now has the $5000 machine that he was coming back for and says that he broke the lease and until he pays for it he will not be able to get the rest of his belongings...can he do that and can he have cameras in the office space my friend is renting without telling him?

Your friend is liable for the lease. If he has issues with the landlord moving items into his space, he needs to tell the landlord to move them out. The space is his to use for the duration of the lease, not the landlord's.

That said, the landlord cannot hold his goods or equipment. If he is behind on his lease, the landlord MAY be able to get a bailiff to seize them, but as long as he is current, he can leave the place empty if he chooses. The landlord cannot seize goods in anticipation of a default.

I agree with the other poster that the landlord 'watching' probably means he saw him leaving the premises. Don't read more into that than it seems to need. Cameras would be illegal, though.

no he cant

Who鈥檚 to say there are cameras? Your friend had to leave through a door that leads to the outside, correct? So how do you know that the landlord didn鈥檛 see him exiting the building with his stuff?

I don鈥檛 know for certain that a landlord can hold personal belongings when they鈥檙e owed money, but it鈥檚 certainly allowable in other industries. For instance, if you get repairs done to your car and then try to pick it up without paying, the shop is well within its rights to place a lien on said car and keep it until they get paid.

How exactly is he breaking the lease? So long as the renter continues paying for the space, he can do what he wants with it!! Now, if the renter is breaking the lease with no intention of paying the remaining rent, then the owner could be in the right by attempting to recoup monies owed him by the tenant.

If the owner is holding the renter's property hostage and continues to receive payments, that's at the very least theft. At the most, it's extortion. Call the cops.

The fact that he's moving the stuff out of the office is his business, so he can tell the landlord to get stuffed. He'll get his notice as required by law.

As far as the cameras go, that's a sticky issue. I believe he can so long as they are in plain view and do not record sound.