In a pickle, can anyone help?

Hi everyone, I have just had a a letter this morning from the manager of a venue that we rent for our music classes.

We rent the room from them on two mornings a week and I pay a cheque at the beginning of term, to cover the rent for the rest of the term.

The parents that come to my sessions have also paid upfront for the remainder of the term.

The letter that i received this morning says that with immediate effect, we can no longer use the room as they need it for something else.

No warning, no notice, nothing and all over a bank holiday weekend when i stand little chance of finding an alternative venue in time for next week.

Im just wondering if he can do that? I havn't signed any form of an agreement with them with regards the use of the room, but i did pay for the room for an agreed period of time (we still have seven weeks of that agreed booking duration left). Did my payment and his acceptence of that payment costitute any form of legal agreement?

We have 60 families attending over these two days and to refund them all for the remainder of the term will cost me well over £1500. I have also spent large sums of money recently advertsing these sessions and that will now be money wasted if i can't recover the situation.

many thanks everyone


Claire

 

[Gillie]

Claire, ouch!!

I hope you resolve this quickly .... I am not a legal boff at all, but you must have some case here, after all he accepted your money for the bookings so therefore its your room .... you say you didnt sign an agreement ... but neither did he and I take it he didnt give you something that stated he has the right to cancel at any time ....

Hope someone on here has the definitive for you ....

 

Oh Gill, thank you so much (just for listening!!)

Im so annoyed that he done this without giving us any notice at all.

To make it worse, we will now probably have to cancel our holiday for this week as I need to stay here and try and sort it out. (the chldren are in desperate need of a break too)

I know that this is a small problem compared to some peoples but for me it's huge.

I just want to cry, but I won't!!

 

[Gillie]

No dont!! Come out fighting!!

 

[The Resolver]

Unless he can show that you agreed at the outset that there could be a cancellation at any time then you would seem to be able to establish an agreement at least for the period of your payment putting him in breach if he does not make the room available.

Knowng your rights however will not make you sleep easier since you still now have the problem of persuading him to make the room available and until you know then you will have to tell the parents not to bring their chidren next week. Legal action will take time. You could seek an emergency injunction but the cost is probably not proportionate.

There is a need to make clear to him in writing that there is a contract fro the period and that if he does not make the room available then there will be financial loss to you which you will pursue him for.

The urgency makes online mediation a very practical solution since it canbe commenced immedaitely. By all means PM me if you wish to discuss.

 

Thanks Graham,

there was no ageement signed at the beginning referring to any kind of notice period.

All I have is a receipt, signed, dated and stamped showing that they had received payment from me, for use of the room on the agreed days/times up until the 21st July.

Since my first post this morning, i have compiled a letter to him and sent it by recorded delivery, so allowing for the bank holiday, he should reveive it Tuesday am.

In the letter i told him that we had a legally binding contract (I hope this was the right thing to say) and that if we could no longer use the room for the time period agreed, I woul loose a considerable amount of money. I explained how much I would loose and then broke it down into loss of revenue etc, i also explained that I was legally obliged to give my class leader 4 weeks notice and so would have to continue to pay her for classes that she wasn't running. I also mentioned that I would loose a fair amount of business to my competitors and suffer damage to my business's reputation and goodwill! (phew!)

Im hoping that my letter covered everything?

We do have a bit of time on our side as next week is half term, so no classes running until week after.

Whether I will be able to find alternative venues if they refuse to budge is another matter.

Just out of interest, is this something that I will be able to persue through the small claims courts?

many thanks for your help!
Claire

 

[The Resolver]

Claire-you seem to have covered everything in the letter. The only other item is that you have a duty to mitigate your loss, ie try to find alternative accommodation,so maybe you should reinforce the urgency by pointing out that unless he agrees immediately to permit use of the room you will be claiming the hire fees incurred with others.

You might also point out that you will have to cancel the family holiday while you try to sort out an alternative venue and you will claim disappointment and any financial loss from cancelling the holiday.

Yes you would issue in the small claims court. Good luck.

 

[gordonthegofor]

I thought that small claims court only went up to a set amount and reading between the lines a worst case scenario you could be claming several thousand pounds if you cant find alternative accommodation, e.g. for loss of earnings,profit,wages in lieu of notice,refund costs. and loss of future profits

I would certainly try to get them to give you some time to arrange alternative accommodation as I would not expect you would want to continue renting there premises,

Have you thought about trying local community halls and church halls?

 

[Antonia @limeone.com]

The small claims track of the county court allows claims up to £5000 however the more pressing problem here is not how to get the money and the legal claims it is to stop damage to business reputation.

Where land and premises is involved and core to your business it is essential these arrangements are in writing and cover all forms of what happens if scenarios.

In this case negotiation rather than litigation is likely to get the best short term solution. Once the new location of the classes is confirmed and business is back on track then you can consider the legal aspects and likelihood of getting your money back.

Claire if it would help to chat this through we do have a service over the weekend if you want to email [email protected] Happy to talk free of charge of course as you are a client.

 

Graham, once again thank you so much for your advice.

I hadn't even considered claiming against the holiday, (though not sure how much a wet week in a tent in the cotswold's is actually worth!)

I have probably manged to find alternative accomodation (hopefully), but will wait and see (the hire rates will be more expenive though)

 

[Cornish Steve]

I can only echo what others have said. The legal aspect is one thing; the practical is another. I'd contact some local church halls, explain the situation, and see if someone will help you temporarily at no cost - just until you have a longer term solution.

Also, I'd approach the venue manager in person, sit down calmly with him, and discuss alternatives. Maybe he manages other properties that could be made available at short notice.

 

Thanks Antonia and Gordon (sorry, hadn't seen your replies) and thanks also Steve.

Alternative venues are very scarce around here, i have a list and the contact details of just about every possible venue in a 20 mile radius!

I have managed to find a possible venue that can let us have two hours a week at short notice but it's on a different day to classes we currently run, so whether people will be able to swap days or not is a different matter.

I still have to find somewhere to accomodate everyone else.

I will talk to them on Tuesday and see what the situaton is, they might agree to allow us to continue for a bit longer. The manager is a very nice man and this is not usually his style (its a room that we hire from a doctors surgery), I think that pressure is being put on him from above because they need to convert the room into office space, so i do sympathise, but it doesnt help our situation much.

I will let you all know how we get on!

Thanks Antonia for the offer of a chat, I had to pop out after my last post, so have missed the opportunity! And thakyou for the contract that you sent me, I havn't had time to read it yet as so many other things going on (and now this!!) will sit and go through it soon though, thanks once again.

I will also be in touch soonish about the T&C's that we chatted about

Claire

 

[Cornish Steve]

The manager is a very nice man and this is not usually his style

Excellent. Then the chances are that he'll work with you to find a win-win solution. It will be much better to resolve things informally and amicably than by legal means.