Advice on renting a shop without a contract ?

[Lau_jr]

Hi if anyone could give me any advice on the subject I'd appriciate it.

A friend of mine has a empty shop which is connected to her shop. She has told me how much rent she wants per month which suits me fine. I know she is the lease holder not the landlord but she has told me the landlord has no problem with me being there. My only problem is I have no contract and I'm worrying that she could kick me out and take over the shop or she could not pay her rent and the landlord could kick us both out ?.

I know there's pro's and con's to a contract at least if my business doesn't go well I can just leave but Im confident it will progress. I don't want to lose all the time and effort I've put into the shop then for her to change her mind.

Hopefully somebody could give me some help on this

Many thanks

 

[kelvin1950]

Simple answer - don't.

You need to do this formally or you may end up losing everything. The first things to do is to get a copy of her lease and either read it or show it to a professional to see if she's actually allowed to sublet to you. If she is then the lease should also lay down how it needs to be done, usually the landlord needs to formally approve the sublet.

The landlord might say it's OK, or so you're told, but that holds nothing legally.

 

[The Wages Room]

I agree with the above. It would be a real shame to get your business up and running to find that you are out on the street. Don't do it!