Help For Landlords
Landlords seek legal advice for any number of reasons. I act for both commercial and residential landlords throughout the UK to help resolve the disputes that they have with their tenants, or to help prevent them from occurring in the first place. Here is a selection of the things that I regularly advise landlords about:
Unpaid Rent
I advise landlords on the options available to them when their tenants don’t pay their rent. These options range from the less adversarial approaches which involve working with the tenant to find a resolution and to preserve the landlord/tenant relationship, to pursuing the tenant through the courts, issuing bankruptcy or insolvency petitions to recover the arrears, pursuing former tenants, sub-tenants and guarantors for the arrears, and action to evict the tenants to recover the premises so that my clients can re-let them.
Tenant Eviction
Evicting tenants should be relatively straightforward if proper care and consideration is given to the facts and the process from the outset. It can get a bit tricky with difficult tenants however and the courts are sympathetic to tenants given that the process involves removing them from a place they call home. It is therefore vital to get everything right when serving notices, issuing proceedings at court and enforcing the court order once you’ve got it. I help landlords to get these things right first time so that they get their property back as quickly as possible.
Lease Renewals under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954
I help landlords to plan strategically to help ensure that they get the best terms on renewal with their business tenants. I draft and serve section 25 notices for them and deal with unnopposed lease renewal proceedings through the courts if necessary.
Site Clearance under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954
I also help landlords to remove tenants of commercial premises where the landlord is looking to redevelop the site
Changing the Locks
I provide landlords with a step-by-step guide on how to change the locks and the notices that they need to complete and serve in order to comply with their legal obligations when exercising a right of re-entry.
Tenant Insolvency
For the last 10 years, since the market crashed, I have advised landlords on their rights when one of their tenants enters into an insolvency regime. It can be difficult to tell the difference between an administration, a liquidation, a CVA or a bankruptcy. Each has its own unique effect upon the landlord/tenant relationship. They are rarely the same and the paperwork and voting processes can be quite long-winded. I help landlords in these situations to understand the legal processes involved so that they can plan and make decisions to protect their interests.
Dilapidations and Disrepair
I advise landlords how to deal with tenants who have breached the repairing and similar obligations in their lease, both during the term and at lease expiry. This could involve serving notices to carry out inspections and/or remedial works, recovering the cost to the landlord of carrying out remedial works itself, serving notice on the tenant requiring it to carry out repairs, or bringing a claim for damages at the end of the term. I also advise landlords of their own repairing obligations of common parts for example.
Unlawful Assignments and Underlettings
Sometimes tenants are cheeky. Sometimes they are ignorant. Whatever the reason, if they assign the lease or sublet it to a third party without your consent you need to act fast to protect your position. Allowing this to go unpunished could result in you losing the security of a strong guarantor or of the original tenant itself. It could also place you in breach of the terms of your own headlease, or have an adverse effect upon market rates. I help landlords to enforce the alienation provisions in the lease to stop this from happening or to have it unravelled. I also advise landlords on the strength of the applications made by their tenants to assign and sublet. Landlords are entitled to various pieces of information and assurances by both parties in these situations. I make sure that my clients have these in order that they can properly consider the applications and make a decision about them in good time to comply with their statutory obligations.
Other Breaches
There seems no end to the number of ways a tenant can breach the terms of its lease. From letting third parties into occupation ,to causing a nuisance to other tenants or neighbours, changing the permitted use of the property, or not paying the service charge. Landlords have to deal with it all. I advise them tactically how best to do that.
Make a Free Enquiry
If you’d like to discuss a property related dispute you can call me now on 020 7842 1452 . Alternatively email me at: ian@propertydisputes.co.uk or complete a Free Online Enquiry and I’ll get in touch as soon as I can for a chat about your legal rights and options. There’s no cost or obligation.