What are the best practices for enforcing a personal guaranty in a lease default?

Some guaranties are voided if the terms of the original lease are changed without the consent of the guarantor. So extending the lease term or releasing security may prevent enforcement against the guarantor.

As a practical matter, it is always helpful to try and work through the guarantor’s attorney. This helps in trying to avoid letting the situation “become personal”. In my experience, once the situation does become personal, perspective is lost and the chances of a positive, or even ‘reasonable’, outcome is greatly diminished.

Even after a judgement has been obtained, in several states, it must also be perfected/recorded. This is the practical step that allows for the Creditor to seek relief via the guarantor’s assets.

It is important to not give up too quickly on establishing personal recourse against a Guarantor. Many commercial real estate loans are "non-recourse," meaning that unless something unusual occurs, the lender's only avenue in the event of a default is to foreclose on the real property and to take any personal property pledged via Article 9 security interests. But most non-recourse loans have exceptions to the "non-recourse" provisions, colloquially referred to as "bad boy carve-outs." In other words, if the Borrower has broken a specified "rule" in the loan agreement, the underlying debt becomes personally collectible against the Guarantor. Discovery and investigation in a lawsuit against the Borrower can uncover these recourse triggers.

It's actually rather obvious that this is an AI generated article. Fortunately, it still requires human experience in these matters to fully explore, determine and outline the multiplicity of possibilities of such events as a default with a guarantor. For example despite the fact that you have the right to file a lawsuit and collect from the guarantor in California a landlord has a requirement to mitigate damages this would include a variety of possibilities that would require one with experience in these matters to fully comprehend and outline the options and steps to success for the landlord. These actions would require analysis and knowledge of market conditions, the property's occupancy, type of space, condition and marketability

It needs to be made clear which jurisdiction you are dealing with. Much of what has been stated can apply in England & Wales as well as the US, but English Law has the added complexity of Authorised Guarantee Agreements, when leases have been assigned as well as the process of commencing proceedings in the courts needs to be clarified. The terms used and processes do not automatically translate from one to the other.