Contract - help

dwill1503

This is not consumer rights, as such, but a question about my right as a tenant (for my office)...

We signed a contract with our landlord and prior to signing we queried the air con and that it needed replacing. The solicitor came back via email and said the following:

"My client comments that this issue will be addressed as appropriate, including appropriate upgrading of the system at my client’s cost."

The lease has since been transferred to a new landlord and we have just had the air con work done, with a bill of 6k. the new landlord says that as they were not made aware of this when buying the building, they will not pay. The air con quotes and invoices clearly state that the air con did not meet current legislation and was using an old gas.

does anyone have nay knowledge at all on our rights - firstly, if the LL was not made aware of an agreement with the old LL and secondly, the air con was not safe to be used.

Thank you in advance,

wealdroam

dwill1503 wrote: »

This is not consumer rights, as such, but a question about my right as a tenant (for my office)...

We signed a contract with our landlord and prior to signing we queried the air con and that it needed replacing. The solicitor came back via email and said the following:

"My client comments that this issue will be addressed as appropriate, including appropriate upgrading of the system at my client’s cost."

The lease has since been transferred to a new landlord and we have just had the air con work done, with a bill of 6k. the new landlord says that as they were not made aware of this when buying the building, they will not pay. The air con quotes and invoices clearly state that the air con did not meet current legislation and was using an old gas.

does anyone have nay knowledge at all on our rights - firstly, if the LL was not made aware of an agreement with the old LL and secondly, the air con was not safe to be used.

Thank you in advance,

As you say, this is not a consumer rights issue.

The details and exact wording are important and you probably need a solicitor to interpret them.

You could try The House Buying, Renting & Selling Board, but as this is business premises, they may not be able to help.

djmsemcgrath

Who authorised the air con work to be carried out? Presumably there was a contract with the air con company - who's name is on this?

Fosterdog

Things can get very complex with business contracts, you may need a solicitor to help with this one.

It may all depend on how the current landlord bought the property, whether it was with all current liabilities or not. Were you aware that the building was up for sale and that it was taken over by a new landlord?

Who commissioned the air con company to carry out the work?

djmsemcgrath

To be honest, as the tenant, it doesn't matter to you who the landlord is. From what I can gather from your post, if the landlord authorised work to be done, then sold or transferred the property to another landlord, then he should have either cleared or transferred his outstanding debts as well. That would have formed part of the contract between the new and old landlord - nothing to do with you.

Presumably, a contract either exists between the old landlord and the air con company, or the new landlord and the air con company. Obviously, it's not the latter, so it must be the former. In which case, the air con company can chase the old landlord for their debt. Nothing to do with you.

If, and this seems unlikely as the tenant, you authorised the repair yourself, and agreed to pay the air con company yourself, and signed the contract with them yourself, then it is your debt. You may have had a verbal or email agreement with the old landlord to reimburse you afterwards, but I'm assuming there's no formal contract. If this is the case, you're completely out of luck. It's your debt.

I would be very surprised if a tenant agreed to finance repairs to a property that didn't belong to them without a secure agreement in place to receive complete reimbursement from the landlord.

agrinnall

You say "we have just had the air con work done, with a bill of 6k". Who do you mean by "we"? If that refers to you or your business then you may be stuck with the bill, as I can't see why you would be commissioning work that was clearly agreed to be the responsibility of the previous owner.

bris

On the face of it you have a strong case the sale of the property to a new LL does not effect the contract in any way to the tenant.


You will need to prove the contract included the upgrading of the aircon at the LL expense, if you have this then you will have no problem in court.


Speak with the solicitor who handled the lease, they will have the details and are best placed to help you moving forward. It should only take a letter from them reminding them of their obligations.


If the new LL has a problem with this and wasn't told about this term then they may have recourse against the old LL but that is not your problem.