Commercial tenant not paid rent since January

D

DARICK

Guest
I have a commercial premises rented and I have not recieved any rent or rates since last january, I am presently owed 45000 by this scumbag.
I am awaiting a court date and have followed all the correct procedures, but seems to be taking forever.
I am unable to pay my morgage and am in a very serious situation.
Does anyone have any ideas.
P.s The tenant has no intention of paying and knows exactly how to play the system.
 
I assume you have contacted your solicitors contacting this matter. There are mehods where you can simply re-enter the premises and change the locks which will cease him from entering the property. Talk with your solicitor immediately.
 
Had similar five yrs ago. Shop in capel St. Took five months before got legal power -court order,bailiff,changed locks etc. My lawyer,like yours evidently, went very softly softly on this kept on saying if we are too pushy we won't get court order , are you sure the tenant has no reason not to pay blah blah blah.

I thought five months was crazy. Eight months is unimaginable. Get that court order.
 
Just remembered - are the courts closed ?
I could suggest from my long experience working in very tough areas of Dublin an alternative approach but the post would be removed.
 
Tks old nick, courts are closed, and am awaiting date.
This guy is actively antoginising and mocking me trying to provoke me.
 
Hi mercman, courts are closed, and am awaiting date.
This guy is actively antoginising and mocking me trying to provoke me.
Solicitor says I cant go near the place and have to wait etc.
What happens if I change locks.
 
On the basis that what you have said is correct, you would be best to place a forfeiture notice to get the property back. Then once this has been issued, you can then reenter the property. There is another way legally but I will have to go through my files to provide you with detail.

IMO you are wasting your time going to Court as in these times, the judge will show sympathy with the tenant and then you will be back to square one. Remember in this case, receiving no rent might be better than receiving rent. Tell your solicitor to use the law and stop messing about.
 
Tks mercman, if I go in and change locks whats the worst that can happen for me.
 
Re-entry, for forfeiture, without a Court Order, can only be effected if it can be done peaceably.

If re-entry cannot be effected peaceably, you issue proceedings and seek an order for possession from the Court.

You cannot use force. It is a criminal offence under Section 2 of the 1971 Prohibition of Forcible Entry and Occupation Act.

mf
 
DARICK said:
Tks mercman, if I go in and change locks whats the worst that can happen for me.
Click to expand...

darick, work that one out yourself ? Your property and your liability.

I certainly do not wish to counter any solicitors posts or opinions, but around 7 or 8 years ago my solicitor advised me to find a locksmith, enter the property at night / Sunday and change the locks. This was done on two separate occasions on two different properties, and the tenant's solicitors in both cases were very capable solicitors.

And that instruction was from the litigation department of the largest law firm in Ireland. I will have to dig out my files to source the correct terms used. Will do on Friday as I will be away tomorrow.

And there was no Court order at the time. From memory one was a dispute over sub tenants in the property, and the other over delapidations.
 
Tks for your time mercman and really appreciate it.

Is it easy or difficult for tenant to get me removed by court order once ive done this.
 
darick - I presume that the tenant is not claiming a reason for not paying. E.G. Water leaks, sewerage smell or anything that may be your reponsibility to fix that is affecting his business.
 
The tenant has not given any reason whatsover, in fact when approached he went to gardai and made false accusations of harrasment.

To simply put it this person is playing the system and im suffering.

There has been no reason given.
 
It seems from the advice on this thread you have to weigh up the costs of it taking time, loss of rent and legal fees of legal eviction with the costs, possible fine from the courts of doing it the throw out on the street way.

I know of one case like this and it took 2 years to get the tenant out, a desperate man to deal with and know all the tricks and laughted all the way to the bank while earning money and is still in business today no doubt doing it to other landlords.

I wonder would a picket outside the premises to state the tenant had not paid any rent in 6 months do the trick.
 
I'm in a similar position, co-own a small retail unit in town.
Original tenant decided to sub-let to one of his friends, but never informed us.
Now sub-let is in 11k in arrears in rent, 2,500 in unpaid ground rates, and 845 in unpaid building service charges. Had to engage a solicitor who specialises in this field, but charges 180 euros per hour.
Sub-let tenant is getting serviced papers this week, hopefully he will move on.
Then we are chasing original tenant for all arrears plus costs.
 
On the basis that the sub-letting was done without your authorisation, surely you would be better off serving the papers on the original tenant. The original are in breach of lease and you have them over a number of issues. Act tough and make them pay IMO.
You might be best to advise them that all legals fees are for their account.
 
Problem is the original tenant is a foreign national and has disappeared, so our options are extremely limited. From what I can gather these guys are well versed in this excercise, and I would assume have done it before either in Ireland or another EU country.
We are now forced to recognised our sub-tenant, and have given him the option to vacate and we will swallow rent, building service charges and ground rent owed. Otherwise its going to be a costly court case to engage these indiviuals and get them evicited.
Seems to me this areas is wide open to abused, and needs to be tightened up. We did everything by the book and set up lease with solicitor only to be railroaded by these crooks.
 
Welcome to my world !! Why don't you and your business partner evict the present tenants from the property yourselves. I mean by this, simply enter the property in closed hours and change the locks. If there is stock there give it back to the sub-tenant, otherwise you have your property back and are then able to get on with your lives.
 
My brother and myself have engaged a solicitor who specialises in tenant/landlord contracts and disputes. He recommended under no circumstances should we change the locks or participate in a forceful entry. Outcome would be more likely sub-tenant would then bring us to court. Best playing it safe and suck up short term pain....
 
There is a legitimate way of regaining entry to the property which was given to me a number of years ago by one of the top solicitors in the country. It can be done but there are rules and ways of doing it.
 
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