What are landlords duties etc.

[Blush]

I collected the keys for my new shop on Friday . I am beginning to wonder if they actually checked the premises over when the last tenant handed her keys in on the Wednesday?
The back entrance, ie the fire exit, is broke as the door won;t budge the mortice lock is knackered.Is this not the landlords responsibility? Surely th eprevious tenenat was supposed to leave in good repair? I nfact I know she was as I have same terms in the lease.
Fire extinguishers must have been mounted on some kind of fixtures which she has removed as they are now lying on the floor.
And there is a cable with a plug hanging from the ceiling to plug in but we can't work out what it is for?
She has also left a main cable hanging from the ceiling down the wall, which doesn't seen right either.
What I want know is should it be me, th elnadlord or previous tenant whi is responsible for sorting this?

[Antonia @limeone.com]

You need to schedule all of the problems including taking digital photos of the condition of the property and contact your landlord as soon as possible. If you used a solicitor in this transaction normally they will speak with the landlord's solicitor to make them aware of the problems but you need to refer to your lease as to who is responsible for what.

[FPB-advice]

Yes, raising a schedule of condition is a must, the landlord may well be aware of the current state of repair and may be looking into dilapidations with previous tenant, but you must ensure that nothing that has previously happened has any consequential affect on you.

[Blush]

I shall speak to solicitor first thing in the morning then.Thats if I don't lock myself in the shop again.The lock in main door is a bit dodgy too.I can manage to open from the outside but tried to lock it from inside today and I couldn'topen it again, I had to ring somone to comedown and hand keys through letterbox so they could open it.Another thing to put on my list.

[Alice3537]

I shall speak to solicitor first thing in the morning then.Thats if I don't lock myself in the shop again.The lock in main door is a bit dodgy too.I can manage to open from the outside but tried to lock it from inside today and I couldn'topen it again, I had to ring somone to comedown and hand keys through letterbox so they could open it.Another thing to put on my list.

I'm really sorry, but that comment made me laugh!!

Have you met your landlord? If you have and he/she seems reasonable, do the above, but speak to them first - could save some money in the short term and you have the other course of action if they are not amenable to your requests.

[FPB-advice]

Absolutely, see the landlord first as it should be something easily remedied don't run up needless costs seeing solicitors at this stage, tried a quick search on templates for shedules so you can see what type of thing you need to consider, have a looksee at the following 2 links and simply create one to meet your requirements, dont forget to take photos and keep safe.
http://www.studenthousing.lon.ac.uk/uploads/media/Inventory.pdf
http://www.inventory-checks.co.uk/documents/Schedule%20of%20Condition%20-%20Template.pdf