commercial lease - offering lower rent

juehankie

we have a commercial lease - we r fully aware of our legal and contractual obligations - but the rent is too high for the premises and the turnover....we dont want to do a bunk..we want to pay - but just cant afford any longer - as a landlord - would you take 50% of nothing - or 100% of everything - if LL doesnt accept a lower offer - the fixtures and fittings will be sold - what would you do? as tenant and LL...?

JQ.

Landlords are accepting such proposals in the current climate. If you vacate their property could be vacant for years, better to have you paying some rent and covering the rates and maintenance costs. Whether your Landlord is a reasonable person only you can answer, but I can assure you it is quite common. Talk to them honestly and openly and see what they say. Good luck.

vickyj

IT would really depend on what sort of demand there is on your place. If there is little demand then i would imagine they would be fairly responsive if you have been there a while and shown yourselves to be good tennants. If however you have been there 2 months then i would imagine your chances being a great deal less.
vj

juehankie

vickyj wrote: »

IT would really depend on what sort of demand there is on your place. If there is little demand then i would imagine they would be fairly responsive if you have been there a while and shown yourselves to be good tennants. If however you have been there 2 months then i would imagine your chances being a great deal less.
vj

no demand - he even sold one of his businesses to the tenant - we asked this - he refused us, established over 50 yrs, will sit empty n cost him £ to put right - cant sue us - we have nowt!! he has proven totally inflexible so far - we been there 12 months - always pd up.

RabbitMad

juehankie wrote: »

no demand - he even sold one of his businesses to the tenant - we asked this - he refused us, established over 50 yrs, will sit empty n cost him £ to put right - cant sue us - we have nowt!! he has proven totally inflexible so far - we been there 12 months - always pd up.

Why should he be flexible? You signed a contract and now want to alter the terms? He can sue you and force you into bankruptcy - do you really have nothing - no equity in your house? what about your rnetal house, any equity in that? No savings at all?

You need to explain your situation clearly, be very open and honest, if necessary show him your books to prove you are not bluffing. If you do that he might show some flexibility.

Perhaps offer to pay a reduced rent and roll the rest over to be paid when business picks up?

juehankie

RabbitMad wrote: »

Why should he be flexible? You signed a contract and now want to alter the terms? He can sue you and force you into bankruptcy - do you really have nothing - no equity in your house? what about your rnetal house, any equity in that? No savings at all?

You need to explain your situation clearly, be very open and honest, if necessary show him your books to prove you are not bluffing. If you do that he might show some flexibility.

Perhaps offer to pay a reduced rent and roll the rest over to be paid when business picks up?

why should he be flexible? because through no fault of our own we have been dealt a blow from the cancer fairy and havent been able to trade...he can sue us - we will have to take bankruptcy - we have £5,000 equity in rental house. we have no savings cuz we spent £12,000 last month alone carrying on paying our bills to keep the place ticking over - cuz staff still need payin n LL rent...over £1000 a month. i have shown him our books - verified from the accountant too...i have no problem payin up if it picks up = like i said we cud do a bunk 0 but we are honest people needing a bit of restbite!!

RabbitMad

juehankie wrote: »

why should he be flexible? because through no fault of our own we have been dealt a blow from the cancer fairy and havent been able to trade...he can sue us - we will have to take bankruptcy - we have £5,000 equity in rental house. we have no savings cuz we spent £12,000 last month alone carrying on paying our bills to keep the place ticking over - cuz staff still need payin n LL rent...over £1000 a month. i have shown him our books - verified from the accountant too...i have no problem payin up if it picks up = like i said we cud do a bunk 0 but we are honest people needing a bit of restbite!!

None of that gives a reason why he needs to be flexible. Is it his fault you entered into a contract and didn't put in place Key man insurance? No

And you've got £70,000 odd you meantion in the other thread (now blanked) that you were looking to invest? Plus, You've got your own house. What equity is in that?

And if your LL was to be entirely heartless he'd be considering whether to take a punt on your OH passing away and there being insurance money to get out of you or some dependants pension from a previous employment.

Then LL will have 6 years to come after you for the cash if they don't push for bankruptcy, the economy could have picked up, house price risen etc. There will be no desire on the LLs part to make you bankrupt it costs money.

juehankie

RabbitMad wrote: »

None of that gives a reason why he needs to be flexible. Is it his fault you entered into a contract and didn't put in place Key man insurance? No

And you've got £70,000 odd you meantion in the other thread (now blanked) that you were looking to invest? Plus, You've got your own house. What equity is in that?

And if your LL was to be entirely heartless he'd be considering whether to take a punt on your OH passing away and there being insurance money to get out of you or some dependants pension from a previous employment.

Then LL will have 6 years to come after you for the cash if they don't push for bankruptcy, the economy could have picked up, house price risen etc. There will be no desire on the LLs part to make you bankrupt it costs money.

im sorry i dont have a clue what youre on about - nothing onhere has any reference to what i have said..sorry..confused,? think you got me mixed up with someone else...one thing i do get is....the LL is being completey heartless.

darkpool

are you trading as a limited company or as an individual?

Annisele

juehankie wrote: »

im sorry i dont have a clue what youre on about - nothing onhere has any reference to what i have said..sorry..confused,? think you got me mixed up with someone else...one thing i do get is....the LL is being completey heartless.

I don't think that's fair. You may not like what RabbitMad said, but I don't think he's wrong.

The cancer is obviously not your fault - but equally it's not your landlord's fault. You were in a much better position to insure yourself than he was. You took a commercial decision not to take out Key Man insurance (it's not compulsory) and very unfortunately for you you got stung by that decision.

I suspect the £70k RabbitMad is talking about is this one - we don't know whose £70k it is because your original post has gone, but I can see why he thinks you might have some money.

You might be better off posting on the "small biz and charity" board. I'm not clear whether your business is a limited company/partnership/sole trader, and the advice might be different in different circumstances.

One thing you do need to make sure is that you're not trading whilst insolvent - take advice from your accountant if you need to.

darkpool

Annisele wrote: »

I suspect the £70k RabbitMad is talking about is this one - we don't know whose £70k it is because your original post has gone

to be fair that post is over two years old. i think the OP said this money was invested in his business