commercial lease

[fazfame2013]

I am in lease with a firm called LCP (London & Cambridge Properties Ltd). As according to my break clause in the lease I sent an email to the appropriate personal in this firm giving 6 months moving out notice on 5th September 2012. Come February 2013 i phoned this person as i only had a month to move out, asking what happens next. He told me that they needed the notice in writting. I told him that the email is in writting. Then i was told that oh at that time there was some balance that had to be paid that is why that notice in September was not taken into account. Then i told him that the balances were paid in Mid October, so why did you not get in touch with me, and i quote "i would help my tennant so that he/she does not fall in debt", & i quote "oh so you would help your tennant to leave your premises" said this man in a sarcastic way. On 5th of March 2013 i gave them another notice & this time I have had a reply that I can only walk out of this lease at the earliest 28/09/2013. That is more than 6 months. Also when i took out the lease & walked into the premises, they were a dump & i spent nearly £40,000 doing the palce up into a restaurant. So i want to ask how does this dilepadation thing work, as i have been told that a surveyor would come out to do a report. I am asking this as i want to take out most of the things out (doors, lights, cameras, speakers, radiators & so on). So would the property be compared to when i took over, when it was a heap of dump, or when the surveyor does his report?
Also can i take LCP to court for not taking the Vacation notice up lets say from October when all balances were paid as mentioned above?
BE VERY VERY CARE FUL IF YOU EVER HAD TO DEAL WITH LCP Ltd AS THEY ARE VERY VERY CONNING FIRMS. AVOID IF POSSIBLE

 

[kulture]

I have approved your post, but unless you confirm you e-mail address by responding to the registration mail sent to you, none of your posts will appar.

 

[kulture]

In answer to your post. Go see a solicitor and take the lease you signed with you. Commercial leases are fraught with danger and if you sign one without taking proper legal advice then you can end up in a terrible mess. I am sorry to say that you have probably caused this problem by not getting the lease checked out originally.

Whatever you do, you must not rip out anything until a solicitor has advised you.

 

[arcon5]

If according to your original notice the lease terminated march 2013 can you actually now renter the property to remove property?

 

[deniser]

I am in lease with a firm called LCP (London & Cambridge Properties Ltd). As according to my break clause in the lease I sent an email to the appropriate personal in this firm giving 6 months moving out notice on 5th September 2012. Come February 2013 i phoned this person as i only had a month to move out, asking what happens next. He told me that they needed the notice in writting. I told him that the email is in writting. Then i was told that oh at that time there was some balance that had to be paid that is why that notice in September was not taken into account. Then i told him that the balances were paid in Mid October, so why did you not get in touch with me, and i quote "i would help my tennant so that he/she does not fall in debt", & i quote "oh so you would help your tennant to leave your premises" said this man in a sarcastic way. On 5th of March 2013 i gave them another notice & this time I have had a reply that I can only walk out of this lease at the earliest 28/09/2013. That is more than 6 months. Also when i took out the lease & walked into the premises, they were a dump & i spent nearly £40,000 doing the palce up into a restaurant. So i want to ask how does this dilepadation thing work, as i have been told that a surveyor would come out to do a report. I am asking this as i want to take out most of the things out (doors, lights, cameras, speakers, radiators & so on). So would the property be compared to when i took over, when it was a heap of dump, or when the surveyor does his report?
Also can i take LCP to court for not taking the Vacation notice up lets say from October when all balances were paid as mentioned above?
BE VERY VERY CARE FUL IF YOU EVER HAD TO DEAL WITH LCP Ltd AS THEY ARE VERY VERY CONNING FIRMS. AVOID IF POSSIBLE

1. Most leases require notices to exercise breaks to be in writing and sent to the company's registered office by signed for post. Your lease will set out the exact notice requirements. Email would not usually be sufficient but again, it depends on what your lease says. It is prudent to get the notice serves by a solicitor to make sure it is valid - so many are not, like in your case.

2. Some leases link the valid exercise of the break option to a requirement that there are no breaches of the lease. If your lease stipulates this, then you must make sure that all monies are paid up to date before you serve the notice.

3. Presumably you have a continuous rolling break option which can be exercised on 6 months notice which is lucky because some people only have one break option and if they mess it up, they are tied in for many more years.

4. When you did the alterations to the property you should have entered into a licence for alterations which would stipulate what happens to the fixtures, fittings and alterations at the end of the term. Do you have this document?

5. As for dilapidations, you need to leave the property in the condition required by the lease - usually good and substantial repair and condition - and in a condition which makes it lettable to the next person. It doesn't matter what the property was like when you found it unless your repairing obligation is limited in some way by the lease terms. This usually means that you leave clean and tidy with neutral fresh decor. If it was a shop or office you would paint it white and put in new neutral carpets usually and make sure all the internal repairs are done ie. plumbing and electrics working properly. I'm not quite sure how an A3 property should be left - presumably much the same.

Once you leave the premises you won't be allowed to go back in to do any works so best to get your own surveyor in to tell you what needs doing and do it yourself before the lease expires. If there are outstanding works at the end of the lease then the landlord can do them and charge you the cost so will have you over a barrel to some extent.

If your landlord has a new tenant lined up who is willing to take the premises as is, then the landlord can't charge you for dilapidation because he hasn't suffered any loss.

 

[ArchiveMe]

Just to redress the balance slightly...
We have several warehouses and have had experience of an equal number of commercial landlords. In my experience, LCP (we are with them now with 2 warehouses) are far from the worst. They are professional and generally pretty OK to deal with, not like some others I could mention...
And no, I have no personal connection with them