business premises landlord trouble

burt123

Hi,
We have a 3 year tenancy on a shop which is making no money. We have had trouble with rain running down internal walls due to a roof problem which was the same when we moved in. Our landlord says it is up to us to repair his roof and he is also harrassing us for his rent, he threatened us with bailiffs and sent a solicitors letter even though the rent was only 2 weeks overdue! We need to get out of the contract and know someone who is very keen to take it over. Any advice anyone - we cannot sleep for the worry.

whatatwit

Burt, this may be better answered on the small biz board.
It's further down the main board.

TRY HERE

daveyjp

You need to talk to your landlord. Roof repair is probably your liability (check your lease), he is within his rights to repossess as soon as rent is late - even if it's only a day and he probably doesn't have to demand it.

You may be able to assign your lease, but you would be better negotiating a surrender of your lease and getting whoever wants the shop to negotiate a new agreement.

If you assign, you are still responsible for all terms and conditions if the new tenant goes belly up.

Bottom line is you need some professional advice - use the same company who advised you when you took on the three year lease as they will be aware of your circumstances and the property.

burt123

Thanks Daveyjp
We have been very naive and I guess very stupid. We actually went into this without giving it thorough thought. we paid the first years rent up front as we knew that the first couple of years trading would be hard, but we didnt bank on it being as slow as it was. we now find ourselves in this impossible situation. We keep trying Citizens Advice but they seem to get busy very early on and close their doors. Will keep trying.

burt123

Thanks whatatwit, we are very new to this and didnt realise there was this section.