Advice on lease renewal for charity please

theblindman

Hi all,
I am a trustee of a charity that leases a building from another charity, our formal lease has expired and we are negotiating a new one, the landlord has suggested we sign a memorandum of understanding to continue the terms of the lease rather than foramlly sign a new lease, partly to save the cost of having a solicitor copy the existing lease and charge us for a new one, stamp duty etc...
Question ---- Does our memorandum have any legal standing to impose the terms of the lease as we do not have any lease? I.e could they kick us out or could we leave without notice?

steve1980

I would be requesting a lease, it's protects everyone then and has set boundaries.

If the landlord is too tight to pay a solicitor the cost of a new lease then I would be worried.

As for Stamp Duty unless you're rent is circa £50,000 over a 4 year period then there won't be any Stamp Duty to pay.

http://ldccalculator.hmrc.gov.uk/LDC01.aspx

paulwf

Speak to a solicitor, even if it is a free 5 minute chat you'll get advice you can trust more than a reply on a web forum. You will probably need to get paid for legal advice even if you don't need to pay a solicitor for a new lease. You need to cover your own back and also think about the charity, the risk of getting it wrong is too high...you might end up getting kicked out with no notice or getting stuck in a building you no longer want. There is also the issue of rent reviews.

Savvy_Sue

I'd agree with all the above: as trustees you can't really afford to get this wrong. Actually, nor can their trustees!

However, is there anywhere in your area you can get pro bono legal advice? You could start with your local volunteer organisation: google volunteer plus your city / town / county to find yours. They may have useful information on their website.