Help needed please

[claireruth]

Hey Every one,

I don't know if any one can advise me and my other half,but here goes a few weeks ago we were forced by our landlord to close our estate agency because we could not afford to pay the rent as we were making a terrible loss and he called in the bailiffs over the weekend changed the locks blah blah blah , any way we have spoken to the landlord who is a very nasty sod indeed and came to an arrangement to end the lease plus pay what we owed in rent (other half's father is paying as we can not afford to) and to clear the office, now the thing is the landlord is saying we can only take personal things like coats jackets, plants, microwave kettle, toaster ,but not the computer which has client details on there and personal details, he also will not let us take the clients files and the keys that we are holding . He basically wants it as his own and trade under my other half's name which is the name of the office. We asked our solicitor if the landlord could do this and he was as helpful as a wet weekend and said he though he could.

The questions is where do we stand and what do we do, can the landlord do any of this.

Any advice is welcome

Thanks Claire

[claireruth]

Is there no one that can advise me on here as i am getting desperate

[Aequitas]

The landlord has forfeited the lease. This means the lease has come to an end. You do not need to agree with the landlord about bringing the lease to an end as it is already at an end. It ended when the bailiffs went in. You are not liable for any rent for any time after the forfeiture.

Landlord's have a right to "levy distress" for rent, that is to enter premises and take goods to the value of the rent. Such a right is dependent upon the existence of a tenancy. There is no tenancy, and therefore no right to levy distress. The landlord cannot keep any items that belong to you in the property and should make arrangements for you to collect them. Quite apart from that, there is no right to levy distress on "tools of the trade" and I think your computer may well come into that category.

Many landlords make the mistake of thinking they can forfeit and then levy distress - they cannot - they have to chose between one or the other.

For the record, I should mention that the right to forfeit is only available if the lease says so, but nearly every commercial lease has such a provision. Further, there is a right to apply to the court for relief from the forfeiture, but there is no point in doing that if there is no realistic prospect of the outstanding rent being paid.

[claireruth]

Thank you so much for your advice, its seems to us now that the land lord is just trying to take us for a ride, we will do everything in our power to stop him from doing this to us, my partner has gone down to the CAB to see what else can be done, once again thank you for your advice and will keep you all posted.

Claire xxxx