Rented business premises - reant areas, notice from Agency

AbbieCadabra

sorry but it sounds like your daughter has been completely 'had' in the lease negotiation at the beginning, only 2 months rent free for all the work she's done? a very hard lesson learnt unfortunately.

on the basis of the advance bookings taken, is there no way a payment arrangement can be made for the arrears to be paid off? is she fully booked, would a groupon offer help (be very careful with the figures though), is she on latebookings.com ?

if no cash injection is available, the more bookings, the better chance of at least trying to keep the business (albeit a slim chance based on the circumstances you've explained & the amounts involved i'm afraid).

gettingready

She has done KGB delas before and that was a BIG mistake, rooms sold for next to nothing and now in season when she could take normal price - KGB people are still using their vouchers

KGB took a massive chunk out of the already heavily discounted price...

On that basis, I do not think This is the best idea TBH...

But perhaps...

bris

The eviction is only the beginning of the troubles ahead. After the eviction comes the bill for the rent arrears, which will continue to accrue whether evicted or not, plus all the expenses to re let.

Commercial leases are a minefield with all the plus points on the LL side unless you can negotiate, looks like no negotiation was done so if you don't find the 6k then expect it to double before it's done.

paddyrg

gettingready wrote: »

Well, CAB advisors were useless I am afraid and even told my daughter that she charges too much for her B&B Rooms 9standard rate for the place she is based) and generally were of no help at all.

Rent areras (spelling????) are £6100 :eek:

CAB are a free volunteer service for individuals, not specialist commercial property and contract lawyers, so I'm not shocked they couldn't help.

Groupon and their ilk are a poor plan - you have to offer a 50% discount, then Groupon take 50% of your slice, so you get 25p/£ at best! And it doesn't build a loyal customer base, just a bunch of cheapskates who go all-out on extras!

notanewuser

paddyrg wrote: »

CAB are a free volunteer service for individuals, not specialist commercial property and contract lawyers, so I'm not shocked they couldn't help.

Groupon and their ilk are a poor plan - you have to offer a 50% discount, then Groupon take 50% of your slice, so you get 25p/£ at best! And it doesn't build a loyal customer base, just a bunch of cheapskates who go all-out on extras!

Groupon take 50% plus vat, so more like 60%!!

notanewuser

How on earth did your daughter get herself into this? She evidently has no business experience. Does she have any hospitality experience?

gettingready

Re Groupon no idea but KGB took a lot, what my daughter got barely covered breakfast and cleaning TBH so...not an option.

No, my daughter did not have any business experience before taking this on. No hospitality experience either BUT she got fantastic reviews so she must be doing something right (on the hospitality side I mean).

She is paying the rent so arreas do not increase from that £6100. I will contact the landlord directly and see if he is willing to perhaps negotiate something.

As I said, the busy season has just srated, only today my daughter had 3 bookings and she has 1-2 every day so....

(scratching head here as 5 hours away)

Thanks for all the posts here, really appreciate all advice/help.

gettingready

paddyrg wrote: »

And it doesn't build a loyal customer base, just a bunch of cheapskates !

Yip, the only bad review my daughter has is from someone from KGB deal voucher complaining about absolutely everything... LOL

notanewuser

gettingready wrote: »

Re Groupon no idea but KGB took a lot, what my daughter got barely covered breakfast and cleaning TBH so...not an option.

No, my daughter did not have any business experience before taking this on. No hospitality experience either BUT she got fantastic reviews so she must be doing something right (on the hospitality side I mean).

She is paying the rent so arreas do not increase from that £6100. I will contact the landlord directly and see if he is willing to perhaps negotiate something.

As I said, the busy season has just srated, only today my daughter had 3 bookings and she has 1-2 every day so....

(scratching head here as 5 hours away)

Thanks for all the posts here, really appreciate all advice/help.

That's great for the guests but 6 months in she can't pay her rent!!! Something isn't working there!!

AbbieCadabra

ok, groupon et al are obviously a no-go (i wasn't aware that they took so much! but i did say that the figures would need to be right as i've seen various horror stories of people losing money on 'deals').

has she got a facebook page/on twitter? promotion with local tourist assoc? does it cost too much to get yourself on lastminute.com/booking.com? does she advertise on holidaylettings.co.uk (mainly self catering but i have seen some b&b's).

can these guys offer any advice regarding increasing bookings, laymyhat.

BUT filling the place up will only go so far with this amount of arrears hanging over her, & obviously she'd need agreement from the owner for arrears to be paid off over time. i really think it might be worth paying for some specific legal advice as to where she stands on her rights in the lease, most solicitors will offer first 30 mins or so free won't they?

has she now got a business plan/cashflow forecast in place? are all her overheads being accounted for & is she on top of all costs now?

if the business really does seem on the up, have you had a look at 'angel investor' type forums? might be an idea.

please let us know how it goes with the owner.