Landlord and Lease Trouble

[cliffe_mafia]

Hi All

My partner has been renting a building for the last year and there has been much to-ing and fro-ing between her and the landlords solicitors over the conditions of the lease so it has remained so far unsigned.

She has received a visit from the landlord and he has said he has had enough waiting and if the lease is not signed by monday then she will be kicked out.

Does anyone know what rights (if any) she has ?

Thanks in advance for any replies

Col H

[Davel]

Is this domestic or commercial?

Most commercial landlords won't let you occupy till the lease is signed.

As far as I know, commercial wise, you can't simply kick someone out anyway, it would have to be done through the solicitors in any case.

Was the lease negotiated directly or through an agent, as surely terms were agreed or a 'heads of agreement' prepared before they occupied.

[cliffe_mafia]

It is commercial.

There is no agent involved. We found the building ourselves and then got a solicitor to read through/advise on the lease.

It is taking his advice that has slowed the process down but we figured that we should take this advice as we are paying for his expertise.

There was nothing agreed at the start - mainly because as this was a first business we were a little naive and thought the signing would be a formality - as we were happy with the rent amount and building itself.

[mutt kennelkof]

Your solicitor should be able to advise you here but if your friend has been paying rent and the landlord has accepted it, then a tenancy has effectively been created.

I would suspect the landlord is just throwing his weight around. If he gets your friend out, then he will be back to square one, getting no rent until he finds another tenant and then going through the whole process of getting another lease agreed and paying more legal fees.