Hi all, I thought I'd just write a little mank about the importance of getting your business lease checked over by a legal professional before signing!
As a business start up I was trying to do everything on the cheap, now first thing I needed was some business premises, so I found them, a little out of town but cheap rent! So I contacted the landlord and struck a 5 year deal with a 2 year break out clause. Now one thing I wanted to do was get it looked over by a solicitor, but due to money constraints I decided to bypass that idea and spend the money on stock & shop fitting instead!!
So blindly I signed the lease and everything was ok! I then start getting a leaky roof in early November/December after numerous answer phone messages for the management company asking for someone to contact me as I have a leak, i received no response, so I decided to withhold their rent and left an answer phone message stating this until someone got off their butts and gave me a call!! They did call after a week or so, and told me they would send a roofer to look at it! The roofer turned up and said he thinks he remembers the place from a good 5 years ago and told me he quoted for a replacement roof! But has since had a major computer crash so he most probably won't be able to find the quote!
I then get a call from the landlord asking why I was withholding his rent, and stated quite correctly he could start eviction proceedings because of this, also that my lease......... and this was the important part of the story left me legally bound to repair the roof and anything else that went wrong myself!!!
Now I thought yeah yeah he's trying it on and decided to give the FSB free legal line a call to double check! The long and short of it, is that I was told to pay the rent straight away as he was entitled to boot me out for withholding his rent!
Also the solicitor stated that Commercial Leases weren't regulated properly and basically the landlord can slip anything they liked into them!
So I also told the solicitor about the roof needing replacement 5 years ago and she said it didn't matter even if I had proof, and the best thing I could do if it really needed doing, was to try and do a deal with the landlord and take the hit!
So the morale of this story is that if you decide to take up a commercial lease just spend that
You're absolutely right in seeking advice when taking on a business lease. I do quite a few of these for clients based on my previous life as a commercial representative for a commercial landlord...I tend to know all the tricks and pitfalls. Break clauses are of course important, but then hitting the notice of said clause is worthy of mention, (small print always worth reading). FMFR (Fully maintaining fully repairing) leases vary tremendously, and whilst I am not familiar with your own location and arrangement it tends usually to fit a 'particular' type of property. I would have course seen this clause and informed you I was not happy with you proceeding on that basis. What you did about it of course is ultimately up to you, but I do point out potential pitfalls. For instance I may have created a caveat that excluded the roof in your lease (usually the most costly area). I also scrutinise management fees and service charges for you; they are rarely truly proportionate to your demised areas, and fees often slip in things they should not. There are lots of considerations when taking on a leased commercial property and I would urge everyone thinking about it to get advice. I have assessed one this week and advised the client to look elsewhere, he had not noticed the covenants contained nor the extent of management fees on top of the service charges. Security, CCTV, maintenace, cleaning, recharged electrics with margins added, there was more but you see why it is important. often it takes no more than say three hours and bonsai passion
It was a big blow, as business isn't exactly booming at the moment, but the landlord himself is coming down this week for a look, clutching the roof quote of course, but I shall just tell him i will take care of it and get a mate to make a temporary fix to see me through to the 2 year break out clause, I have to give 6 months notice on this which isn't a problem really only just over a year to go now! Then I can let him deal with it! As he should have done 5 years beforehand!!! Then when I go to find new premises I of course will be armed with alot more knowledge in this area and definitely won't skimp on legal advice this time that's for sure!!
“Hi all, I thought I'd just write a little mank about the importance of getting your business lease checked over by a legal professional before signing! As a business start up I was trying to do everything on the cheap, now first thing I needed was some business premises, so I found them, a little out of town but cheap rent! So I contacted the landlord and struck a 5 year deal with a 2 year break out clause. Now one thing I wanted to do was get it looked over by a solicitor, but due to money constraints I decided to bypass that idea and spend the money on stock & shop fitting instead!! So blindly I signed the lease and everything was ok! I then start getting a leaky roof in early November/December after numerous answer phone messages for the management company asking for someone to contact me as I have a leak, i received no response, so I decided to withhold their rent and left an answer phone message stating this until someone got off their butts and gave me a call!! They did call after a week or so, and told me they would send a roofer to look at it! The roofer turned up and said he thinks he remembers the place from a good 5 years ago and told me he quoted for a replacement roof! But has since had a major computer crash so he most probably won't be able to find the quote! I then get a call from the landlord asking why I was withholding his rent, and stated quite correctly he could start eviction proceedings because of this, also that my lease......... and this was the important part of the story left me legally bound to repair the roof and anything else that went wrong myself!!! Now I thought yeah yeah he's trying it on and decided to give the FSB free legal line a call to double check! The long and short of it, is that I was told to pay the rent straight away as he was entitled to boot me out for withholding his rent! Also the solicitor stated that Commercial Leases weren't regulated properly and basically the landlord can slip anything they liked into them! So I also told the solicitor about the roof needing replacement 5 years ago and she said it didn't matter even if I had proof, and the best thing I could do if it really needed doing, was to try and do a deal with the landlord and take the hit! So the morale of this story is that if you decide to take up a commercial lease just spend that skylight
The real problem is, even without using a lawyer to read a contract, is that people simply don't even bother to read a contract. I can imagine some people skip paying a lawyer but still they should read the contract because end of the day, it's still in English and you can see where it says where you would be responsible for x, y and z. The cost is more likely to be anywhere from indizine indizine
I do know a lot of people who when they see a commercial contract seem to think it is 'legal' and so will not read it yet when i say to them would they read it if it was for something personal they say yes! Definitely worth reading carefully and discussing with a solicitor who will advise. Just remember it is in English and most of it is understandable. promostamper
Wow that happens all the time these days. Its just cunning and cruel. Bad world. Anyways why do you 'have to' go to a solicitor.? I mean one can just go through the agreement once right? That should be enough. alicemenezes
“Wow that happens all the time these days. Its just cunning and cruel. Bad world. Anyways why do you 'have to' go to a solicitor.? I mean one can just go through the agreement once right? That should be enough.” Although not a lease, we are negotiating a contract with a big partner and unfortunately it's a given that we have to go through a solicitor. Although we've read through countless times and found a few things, for a couple of hundred quid, it's not worth the risk of leaving yourself exposed. |
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