Lease has ended but company not leaving

[Deleted User]

Hi All,

please advice I have leased my flat to a company for 6 years.

The lease ended April 2022 but we are now in January 2023 and I have still not gotten my flat back. 

The rent been paid has been the agreed rate since 2016 and as interest rate, service charge etc have all increased I am running at a loss currently. 

I have followed all the usual requirements such as EPC, annual gas safety etc. 

I have sent several emails and they keep saying they are trying to re-house the tenant. The property is a 1 bedroom and is been damaged due to overcrowding. The tenant has 2 young children and she has said she has also made attempts to get the council to re-house her to a bigger property. 

I leased my flat to this company and they sublet to the council. 

What would be the best way forward?
They have always paid on time but now want my flat back. 

The wording of the agreement states: 

"It is mutually agreed that the Tenant may sub-let the whole of premises to a Local

Authority (Sub-Tenant) and can sign tenancy agreements and notices for the

Premises for the purposes of providing temporary accommodation for those in

Housing need.

NOTICES AND TERMINATION:

Any notice required to be served hereunder shall be sufficiently served if sent by

pre-paid first class post to the address of the parties indicated above or such other

address as may be notified by one part to the other and any notice shall have

been deemed to have been served two working days after posting.

 

It is agreed that the Landlord cannot give notice during the Lease Term, as

specified in the Particulars of this Agreement. The Landlord may give notice to

terminate this Agreement of four months at any point after the expiry of the Lease

Term. The Tenant may provide the property to the Landlord with vacant

possession at any point during the four month notice period at which point this

Agreement will terminate. If the Tenant has to evict the tenant via court

proceedings, vacant possession on occasion may take longer than four months"

 

Thank you all

marcia_

 Why have you left it a year to take action on this? 

[Deleted User]

marcia_ said:

 Why have you left it a year to take action on this? 

The lease agreement stated to give them notice which I did, honestly did not know it will take them this long to hand back the property.

I gave them notice which they acknowledged in December 2021. 

GDB2222

What you really want to do is increase the rent. That will concentrate their minds. At the moment, they are continuing to make a profit.

[Deleted User]

GDB2222 said:

What you really want to do is increase the rent. That will concentrate their minds. At the moment, they are continuing to make a profit.

Fair point, that will be a section 13 notice.

As they are a company can't issue a S21, what can be done to get them out?

1 bedroom flat in the area currently going for £1200+ I am getting £800. The flat is in zone 4 has a private garden. 

eddddy

This is one of the classic problems with leasing a property to a council.

On principle, many councils won't carry out 'no fault' evictions - i.e. they won't even serve section 21 notices. So you're stuck until the tenant chooses to move out (for example, because the council tempt the tenant to move out by offering a better option).


I guess it might be possible for you to terminate the lease with the company, so that you take over responsibility for the council's tenant. Then you might be able to serve a section 21 notice on the council's tenant yourself, and follow up with the eviction process.

As above, you can try to increase the rent - but what will you do if the company refuse to pay the increased rent? They might decide to terminate the lease instead - and once again, leave you to deal with evicting the tenants.

[Deleted User]

eddddy said:

This is one of the classic problems with leasing a property to a council.

On principle, many councils won't carry out 'no fault' evictions - i.e. they won't even serve section 21 notices. So you're stuck until the tenant chooses to move out (for example, because the council tempt the tenant to move out by offering a better option).


I guess it might be possible for you to terminate the lease with the company, so that you take over responsibility for the council's tenant. Then you might be able to serve a section 21 notice on the council's tenant yourself, and follow up with the eviction process.

As above, you can try to increase the rent - but what will you do if the company refuse to pay the increased rent? They might decide to terminate the lease instead - and once again, leave you to deal with evicting the tenants.

How can I go about terminating the lease with the company.

The agreement I have is with Mears housing management.

Mears housing management have now given the property to Tower hamlet.

Towe hamlet have now put tenant J in the flat.

eddddy

Zoe02 said:

How can I go about terminating the lease with the company.

From the snippet you've posted, it sounds like you give them 4 months notice on the commercial lease. Or have you done that already?

Or maybe you terminate the lease because the company are breaching it. 

It depends what the rest of the lease says.


At the end of the notice period (or after the termination), you'll probably become the landlord of the tenant living in your house - so you'll have to perform the legal duties of a landlord.

Then hopefully, you'll be able to serve the section 21 notice to start the eviction process. (There are some legal issues you'd have to investigate first.)


In your position, I'd want to get advice from a solicitor who's experienced in both commercial leases and ASTs/evictions before proceeding.

[Deleted User]

eddddy said:

Zoe02 said:

How can I go about terminating the lease with the company.

From the snippet you've posted, it sounds like you give them 4 months notice on the commercial lease. Or have you done that already?

Or maybe you terminate the lease because the company are breaching it. 

It depends what the rest of the lease says.


At the end of the notice period (or after the termination), you'll probably become the landlord of the tenant living in your house - so you'll have to perform the legal duties of a landlord.

Then hopefully, you'll be able to serve the section 21 notice to start the eviction process. (There are some legal issues you'd have to investigate first.)


In your position, I'd want to get advice from a solicitor who's experienced in both commercial leases and ASTs/evictions before proceeding.

Thank you for the response, looks like will have to seek legal advice who is experienced with such a case I am in.

I did send the company email about notice which they acknowledged but taking so long to get the flat back. 

_Penny_Dreadful

Zoe02 said:

eddddy said:

Zoe02 said:

How can I go about terminating the lease with the company.

From the snippet you've posted, it sounds like you give them 4 months notice on the commercial lease. Or have you done that already?

Or maybe you terminate the lease because the company are breaching it. 

It depends what the rest of the lease says.


At the end of the notice period (or after the termination), you'll probably become the landlord of the tenant living in your house - so you'll have to perform the legal duties of a landlord.

Then hopefully, you'll be able to serve the section 21 notice to start the eviction process. (There are some legal issues you'd have to investigate first.)


In your position, I'd want to get advice from a solicitor who's experienced in both commercial leases and ASTs/evictions before proceeding.

Thank you for the response, looks like will have to seek legal advice who is experienced with such a case I am in.

I did send the company email about notice which they acknowledged but taking so long to get the flat back. 

You have not served valid notice then, have you?  The contract you quoted in your opening post states that notice is required to be sent by first class post to the address of the parties indicated above, it does not say anything about serving notice by email.

[Deleted User]

_Penny_Dreadful said:

Zoe02 said:

eddddy said:

Zoe02 said:

How can I go about terminating the lease with the company.

From the snippet you've posted, it sounds like you give them 4 months notice on the commercial lease. Or have you done that already?

Or maybe you terminate the lease because the company are breaching it. 

It depends what the rest of the lease says.


At the end of the notice period (or after the termination), you'll probably become the landlord of the tenant living in your house - so you'll have to perform the legal duties of a landlord.

Then hopefully, you'll be able to serve the section 21 notice to start the eviction process. (There are some legal issues you'd have to investigate first.)


In your position, I'd want to get advice from a solicitor who's experienced in both commercial leases and ASTs/evictions before proceeding.

Thank you for the response, looks like will have to seek legal advice who is experienced with such a case I am in.

I did send the company email about notice which they acknowledged but taking so long to get the flat back. 

You have not served valid notice then, have you?  The contract you quoted in your opening post states that notice is required to be sent by first class post to the address of the parties indicated above, it does not say anything about serving notice by email.

Thank you for the response, contacted a law firm that specialise in giving notices and they have stated I need to give a notice to quit.