Commercial Landlord & Tenant Cases – Avoiding problems and what to do when things go wrong

Time and time again, I come across disputes between commercial landlords and commercial tenants, where either the landlord or the tenant has failed to protect their interests by instructing a specialist lawyer to draft and negotiate the lease terms.

Two recent cases of this type come to mind:

The first involved a landlord who had prepared his own lease, which not only was inadequate, but also cost the landlord dearly in the long term. As a result of using the incorrect lease, the landlord had exposed himself to the strict statutory protection provided to commercial tenants. This meant that the landlord could not automatically recover his land, even though there were rent, because the tenant had statutory rights to extend the lease term. Also, the landlord had no protection as to how the premises were altered. He had failed to ensure a contractual right to insist the premises were reinstated to the condition they were at the commencement of the lease. The landlord’s initial saving, by not instructing a specialist solicitor to prepare the lease terms, resulted in many thousands of pounds in cost and potential loss of use of his land.

The second case involved the failure of both the business landlord and business tenant to enter into any written contractual terms for a lease. As a result, it cost both the landlord and the tenant two years of court proceedings, exposing both parties to serious financial risk. In a sense, both parties to this litigation were losers, since the landlord was bound by the tenants rights to renew the terms of the lease, (thereby preventing the landlord from selling his land to housing developers), and the tenant had to pay in excess of £50,000 in legal fees. Unfortunately, the solicitor instructed by the tenant failed to apply for a renewal of the lease, which he had the right to do, resulting in further loss to the tenant.

In the first case, Redress Law solicitors have been instructed by the landlord to take proceedings to evict the Tenant. In the second case, the tenant instructed Redress Law to seek compensation on the basis of the Professional Negligence of the solicitor failing to advise and apply for a lease renewal.

If you have an issue with Landlords or Tenants, or with property solicitor negligence, then we have a team of specialist Landlord & Tenant solicitors and other specialists to help you recoup any financial losses.