Lease Issue

[spiritadventures]

Hello,

I wondered if anyone can help.

My husband is moving out of his current industrial unit which he rents. He signed a business lease for it that ends in April 2010 (it was a 5 year lease.) He gave notice to the Landlord thast he was moving out which he thought had been accepted and that it was now the Landlord's responsibilty to find a new Tenant.

He phoned the Landlord today to say that he may have found a tenant to take on the unit. The Landlord replied that it was my husband's responsibility to find someone to rent the new unit.

Is this correct?

I have just looked through the lease contract and it does not say anywhere about giving notice on the property except in the last 6 months of the lease.

Looking through the contract, I can't see anywhere that the Landlord is actually wrong - but I am hoping their might be a statute which might imply a notice period where none is evident? etc.

Thank you for any help!

[Stonelaughter]

I'm not entirely certain; and I speak only from anecdote. But it was my impression that if you take on a five year lease you are committed to five years - so if you move out early you may have to pay a penalty of the remaining rent, or be responsible for finding a new tenant to sign the lease over to - and even then there may be a fee for transferring the lease or a "release penalty" to release YOU from your obligations. This obviously would be something you would seek to recover from the incoming tenant; i.e. it would be part of your advertisement of the deal that you wanted £xxxx up front and the rent would be (insert landlord's rent figure here).

[Mattonella Tile Studio]

If there's nowhere in the lease giving notice periods, then it's probably the case that you don't have the right to give notice. You pay for the full five years.

[deniser]

The lease runs for 5 years unless there is a break clause in it which will say something along the lines of "The tenant has the right to terminate the lease [on specific date or dates or after a certain period has elapsed] on giving the landlord [6 ] months' notice in writing ".

If you don't have a break clause and the lease is for a fixed term then you can't give notice. To get out of the lease you will need to do it by negotiation.

[M-C Hoare]

For the period of the lease, unless there is a break clause, there is no way to bring it to an end early.
Only where the lease terms has finished but the tenant remains in there does the statutory right to give three months notice to terminate comes in.
If your husband has found someone to take over the remaining period, the lease will need to be assigned to that person by a formal deed of assignment - this usually requires the landlord's consent, for which the landlord will probably charge.
But unless and until the lease is assigned or the landlord accepts a surrender of the lease, your husband is responsible for paying the rent and the other outgoing (rates etc).
Sorry, probably not what you wanted to hear but better you know now than 6 months down the line when rent arrears have built up.
Marie

[spiritadventures]

I thought that this was the case, but no harm in asking - Hopefully the person who is interested will want to rent the unit and the landlord has consented so touch wood my hubby can assign transfer the lease over.

Thanks for the advice everyone, greatly appreciated!