Solictor issue - Wonder if anyone has any advice.

P

PDCAT

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Hi Guys

Basically a situation has arose with my Wife's business which she is unsure about.

She Bought Beauty Salon Business in February of this year. It is only a leasehold interest. She still has to be Rent and Rates on the Building.
Her Solictor drew up a Contract that stated she now owned the business and everyone signed the seller and my wife.

During a recent discussion on Rent Review, the Solictor for the Landlord stated that My Wife had no consent from them to take over the lease. They are still owned about 7k in Debt from previous owner and despite lots of letters to previous owners solicitor, they are getting no luck. They now seem to be saying that because the previous owner had not paid debt she owed, they had not consented to my wife taking over the lease.

From my wife's point of view, is that they were aware of the purchase, the accepted Rent for last 10 Months, have looked for an increase in Rent due for Review which is fair enough and have accepted payments from my wife for Building Insurance and Rates which were not cheap. I have tried contacting the Previous owner before and have no joy. (not answering phone).

My Wife's solictor is no help. She won't give a straight answer. I'm not aware if she slipped up at the start when my wife was purchasing business. She is giving little away.

From talking to an Auctioneer friend and other business owners, they are saying that my Wife should be ok as they have accepted Rent and Rates and Insurance for past 10 Months and is on the Purchase contract that all outstanding debts were to be paid by Previous Owner.

Since this has not happened, Landord solictor is saying that he never consented to lease.
It has to be said the landlord himself has often spoken to her and never mentioned this. He knows that it will be very hard to get someone to take over the Lease if my Wifes leaves.

Can anyone shed some light on where we stand. Great to hear from someone with some knowledge of Business or Law.

Thnks
 
I've no idea of the legal niceties here. From a commercial point of view, it would seem to be the WORST possible thing the landlord could do is to attack the new tenant. The most likely outcome of the attack is to drive away the new tenant leaving him with a vacant property and no rental income for a further period.
 
Hi! It seems to me the Landlord's experience of being cheated by the last tenant has nothing whatsoever to do with your wife's contract. She has no liability whatsoever in the matter.

If the untenable behaviour of the landlord is upsetting her and her business a direct, firm, formal letter to Landlord - with a copy to both solicitors - stating her intention to terminate her tenancy if this case of mistaken identity does not stop, might make them think? There is a law ensuring "peaceful occupancy" which might be evoked but her solicitor could help with that.
 
Hi PDCat

You absolutely must go to another solicitor to get advice. I would doubt that paying rent for ten months gives you any legal rights. You need to remove any uncertainty before your wife develops the business any further.

As I understand it, a landlord cannot reasonably withhold consent to transfer a lease. But it could be a lot of hassle forcing the landlord to such a consent. I don't know if a landlord can refuse to transfer a lease on the grounds that there is unpaid rent.

Your solicitor should have clarified all this for you. The fact that she didn't, suggests that she may have been negligent and you would have grounds for compensation for any loss suffered.

Is your wife happy in the premises? Sometimes, a tenant can take advantage of a legal mistake to get out of a lease.

Brendan
 
Thnks for you reply guys - much appreciated.

Just a little update, if your interested.

Got a letter from my wife's solicitor on Friday.
Basically the previous owner had not paid any Rates to the County Council for the previous 4 years. I believe she owes about 7K.
Reading between the lines, its possible the Council have came after the Landlord for this money and his solictors are putting pressure on My wife to contact the previous owner as they have sent several letters to previous owners solictor with no luck.

i don't believe my wife should have to chase this up. However i contacted the Previous Owner's Husband myself last Friday and he has promised to chase this up. I don't think his wife had actually told him she owed this money.

Anyway he stated that his wife was in with her solicitor 2 weeks ago and had agreed to pay money. Don't know how and when yet.

I am going to contact him again today and find out when this is going to be sorted from her side.
He did say that this had nothing to do with the landlord, that it was between his Wife and the County Council. I am going to ask him to get her Solicitor to either send my wifes solicitor or Landlord Solicitor a copy of the agreement to pay with County Council in the hope of getting the Landlord of our back.

Rgds
 
Purchase of leasehold

Hi PDCat.
As regards the strict legal position:

1. If your wife bought the lease under a standard purchase contract, then the seller is liable for all outgoings until the completion date. This includes the rates.

2. If your wife took over an existing lease, then as between her and the landlord, she is liable to him for compliance with the terms of the lease, which would certainly include paying the rates.

3. In other words, if the landlord wants to ensure the rates are paid he has a right of action against your wife. Your wife in turn has a right of action against the previous tenant.

4. Was the solicitor negligent? If your wife has a proper contract which gives her a right of action against the previous tenant, I think that the solicitor discharged his/her duty. However, it is common enough (and in my view proper) to have an "apportionment account" (i.e. an account which deals with all outgoings) prepared and agreed on completion of a transaction. If it had been done in this case, the rates issue should have arisen on or before completion. So, (on the basis of limited info and sorry if I am doing anyone an injustice) probably a pass, but not top honours.

In defence of the solicitor, the taking over of leases is often accompanied by procedural informality. Frequently, the new tenant is already in possession before a solicitor is even consulted. This happens particularly in cases where the "key money" is relatively modest.

If you are taking over a lease for - say - €10,000.00, you may resent paying perhaps €1,200 for a solicitor to do a thorough and proper job on what you perceive as a modest transaction. I am not saying that this happened here, but it can happen.
 
MOB

Thnks for reply.

My wife paid 30,000 for purchase of Business.
She paid her solicitor 700euro as that was her fee.

Ive seen a letter from Landlords solicitor to my wifes solicitor basically stating that it was up to her to get an indemity (Not sure if this is what its called) from previous tenants solicitor ensuring that all outstanding bills were paid. This was not done by my wifes solicitor. We just got a verbal agreement from previous tenant that all bills owing by here would be cleared.

The landlords solicitor has stated that the debts of 7,000 for rates for 4 years are owed by my Wife as previous tenant had not paid them. Is my wife in trouble here?

I've been in contact with previous tenant in last few weeks.
They have told me that they with their Solicitor have agreed with County Council to pay the 7,000 Rates over a period of years as they havent got it up front. I have asked them to send a copy of this agreement to Landlords Solitictor and my Wife's Solicitor.
Have not recieved this yet. This is the latest on this issue.

Don't know where we stand if this is done.
But my wife paying the rates for 4 years where she did not occupy the building is a non starter as far as we are concerned.
The previous tenant has agreed to pay these and has stated this to me on a few conversations recently.

Thnks for replys guys.
 
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