Commercial Lease Dispute Solicitors

The main routes are a debt claim for the arrears, drawing down a rent deposit, pursuing any guarantor, commercial rent arrears recovery against goods at the premises where the conditions are met, and forfeiture where the lease reserves the right. Each route has conditions and consequences, and some are alternatives rather than companions, because steps that treat the lease as continuing can waive the right to forfeit. The right sequence depends on whether you want the arrears, the premises back, or both, which is the first question we ask.

Usually, if you act quickly. For breaches other than non payment of rent the landlord must first serve a notice under section 146 of the Law of Property Act 1925 giving you the opportunity to remedy the breach, and for all breaches the court has power to grant relief from forfeiture, normally on terms that the breach is remedied and costs are paid. A landlord who demands or accepts rent knowing of the breach may also have waived the right to forfeit. Even after a landlord has changed the locks, relief can often still be obtained, but every day of delay narrows the options.

By the machinery in the review clause. Most commercial leases provide for the new rent to be agreed, failing which it is determined by an independent expert or an arbitrator, and the clause’s assumptions and disregards, hypothetical term, and time provisions decide most of the argument. Valuation evidence from surveyors carries the day, and the choice between expert and arbitrator, where the lease gives one, affects procedure, costs and the right to challenge. We work with rent review surveyors so the figure advanced for you is supported by comparables rather than hope.

Whoever the covenants say. The tenant’s obligation is defined by the repair covenant, limited by any schedule of condition, while the landlord commonly retains structure and common parts, recovering the cost through the service charge. Disputes turn on the covenant’s words, the condition evidence and whether the works are repair at all rather than improvement. Both sides have remedies during the term, from specific performance and damages to, for landlords, entering to repair and recharging where the lease allows, and each remedy has procedural conditions worth taking advice on before acting.

Where the lease requires consent, statute obliges the landlord not to withhold it unreasonably, to deal with the application within a reasonable time and to give written reasons. What is reasonable turns on the incoming tenant’s covenant strength and the terms proposed, and conditions can only be attached where they are themselves reasonable. A landlord who gets this wrong faces a claim for damages; a tenant who assigns without required consent risks forfeiture. The application, properly prepared with accounts and references, is usually what gets to yes.

Break clauses are enforced strictly, so the question is whether every condition was met exactly: the notice served on the right party at the right address by the permitted method, the deadline met, vacant possession given where required, and every sum due paid at the break date. If the notice was valid the lease has ended whatever the other side says; if it was not, the lease continues for the remainder of the term. The stakes justify getting an answer fast, and the correspondence in the meantime needs care, because positions taken now are evidence later.

We quote fixed fees for every stage, agreed before any work starts, at prices around 30% cheaper than a standard law firm, from the initial review of the lease and correspondence through to mediation, rent review proceedings or court. In court the general rule is that the losing party contributes to the winning party’s costs, and many leases entitle the landlord to costs on particular steps regardless. We advise on realistic recovery, and on the other side’s ability to pay, before you commit to any course of action.