Query re Restaurant Lease

marley123

Hi All not sure if this is the right place but maybe someone can help.

There is a building up for sale which was for sale with tennant ( restaurant ) unaffected - over the past few days the restaurant has ceased training & there is 13yr lease still remaining on it. I have contacted the estate agent who was only told on Friday afternoon that the restaurant had ceased trading.

So I am a bit confused, estate agent acting for the sale of the premises but doesn't handle the restaurant .. does anyone know how I can contact the company mentioned in the link below & whether the estate agent may take on responsibility for the lease of the restaurant automatically as restaurant has ceased trading.

http://www.daft.ie/searchcommercial.daft?id=91826

The Apprentice

Well i dont think the estate agent is going to dirty his hands with the responsiblity of the lease. As far as i tell he acted in good faith originally when u put up the sale of the building, most cases this would mean (restaurant has existing contract) that you are purchasing the building only.. Its under contract meaning you cannot kick them out and use it yourself.
Its really for long term investors - getting maybe 6%+ annual return on rent recieved or above for the actual property etc..

BUT NOW -- The rental agreement has ceased, the buisiness is gone/bankrupt etc and the building is up for sale. Could be for a few possible reasons

1. Owner may be trying to raise some cash from the sale of premises. which is good
2. If it was a good area, it would already be rented etc .. Too Costly ?? Bad location ? Which is bad possibly
3. If indeed there was a decent rental on a premises like this with a decent annual return go for it.. but as there is no rental agreement in place and possibity without research of buying a shell that may not rent ever again it would be a high risk venture.
4. the company nosh may just be out of business and you might speak to neighbours to determine the true nature of why they went bust .. Location ? Footfall ? Cheaper down the road ?

Obviously need a little bit more info to give you a solid opinion of what to do with it, but tread very carefully for now and try and speak to previous owner as to why there not trading.. Could possibly be an ape landlord thinking of upwardly only rents and how this may affect you longterm ??


Best of luck !!

marley123

Sorry should have made it clearer, not interested in buying the building but taking on the Restaurant Lease! Spoke to Estate agent today & she said they are issues as the company running the restaurant have a further 13 yrs left on lease & she couldnt disclose anything else as private & confidential.

The Apprentice

Ok well thats good and bad

The upwardly rent agreement could be an issue here ..
As you state a restaurant .. big question mark as to why they went out of business and to what aggreements are in place for a future tenant regarding long term lease whilst the owner of the building is sorted !

13 Years is not much to be honest, ive seem hammertime comment on another venture hear on this forum and did break it down further as to why it wasnt with not making your investment back etc..

marley123

We know why it had to close ( well pretty sure ) We know the area inside out & its a good opportunity ..however will just have to wait for agent to get back to me which may be couple of weeks.

paul71

The estate agent is probably rightly washing his hands of it due to the posible involvement of a liquidator. It is posible that the liquidator may try sell this business as a going concern and the leasehold interested of 13 years may have an economic value if it is in a good area. Try contacting the liquidator.