Lost Commercial Lease

Bluscreendream

Hi all,

Just looking for some advice on my current situation. I've been paying the same rent on a business premises for the last 15 years, new owners have taken over but they haven't been able to retrieve the original lease from my previous landlord (he admits he cannot locate it) and I can't locate my copy. The new owners now want me to sign a back dated lease from March 2004 (25 years & 5 year reviews) the concerns I have are, if I don't sign can I be put out? Do they have grounds to increase my rent?

Do I have any standing here or should I just sign and bite the bullet?

any advice is greatly appreciated.

Markcheese

Bluscreendream wrote: »

Hi all,

Just looking for some advice on my current situation. I've been paying the same rent on a business premises for the last 15 years, new owners have taken over but they haven't been able to retrieve the original lease from my previous landlord (he admits he cannot locate it) and I can't locate my copy. The new owners now want me to sign a back dated lease from March 2004 (25 years & 5 year reviews) the concerns I have are, if I don't sign can I be put out? Do they have grounds to increase my rent?

Do I have any standing here or should I just sign and bite the bullet?

any advice is greatly appreciated.

Do you have any memory of the length of the lease...? It's unlikely anyone could argue with you on it... I'd hang tough to get good legal advice before I sign anything,
to some extent if you still have a lease they can't kick you out, and if you don't you may have a lot more rights..

pedroeibar1

Did you get a solicitor to review the original lease? S/he usually might have retained a copy. You need legal advice before signing anything and it would be stupid to do otherwise.

antoinolachtnai

You really need legal advice from someone who is knowledgeable about this. It is actually a good thing that the lease is being regularised. You might be in a strong enough position here. But don't sign anything without legal advice.

On the face of it, those terms sound open to interpretation, i.e., they could try to carry out the rent reviews retrospectively for 2009 and 2014 which would mean you would owe big back-rent.

There is lots more to consider. Who is supposed to be keeping the building repaired? What can it be used for? Lots of other things can arise.

Expect to pay quite a lot for the advice, in the order of thousands of euros. This is a significant amount of work for a solicitor. But this leasehold may be your most important asset.

Regardless of the legal negotiations, a big rent increase is probably on the cards.

bluetractor

If the lease is from March 2004, then current rent probably won't be much different as that rent is from pre-recession and rents are only now recovering to 2004 levels. You'd almost have an argument for a lower rent.

However I'd be looking at negotiating a new lease but with rights of tenure as the 2004 lease would have upward only reviews which was abolished in 2009. New leases give tenants better rights imo. Definitely one for a solicitor.

neris

so someone bought an investment property and them & their reps didnt do their due diligence till after the purchase. Would you consider a move to a new premises or would it be viable to move especially if the new landlords come looking for a rent increase