signed a wrong agreement on a commercial property

[genes]

me and my husband rented a salon from the leaseholder on the 4th of January 2007. after we have refurblished and spent a lot of money in the shop, he asked us to sign a shorthold tenancy agreement for residential property. at that time, we had no choice but to sign it. we signed it dated 29th of january 2007 for one year. the landlord said he will renew the agreement every year. when we asked for a proper lease, he said that it would be given to us by the end of the tenancy agreement. the agreement ended on the 29th of january 2008.

we spent about £20,000.00 to refublished the place and set up our own clients. unknowling to us the leaseholder only wanted to use us to build up his lost clients as he was doing a salon there before as well. we asked him to renew the agreement and give us a proper agreement and he said we have to move out as soon as possible as the freeholder want to refurblish the whole building. we contacted the freeholder and she told us it is a liar. the freeholder said his lease end in June 2008 and he is not going to renew it for him and would like to offer us the lease but that will be in june 2008.

the leaseholder now sent us a letter to vacate the shop in the next six days. he has been to the shop to take out our light and the keys. he said we have to move out.
we have spent a lot of money and time to set the place up. we should not have taken out a loan from the bank if we know the p[lace was only for one year.

please what should we do ?

we would like to drag this matter till june when they will have no lease anymore. can we get court injuction on them despite the fact that we do not have a valid agreement anymore?

but was the agreement valid in the first place?

what is court reactions to cases like this?>

do we have any case at all?

thank you.

[Aequitas]

Your agreement is valid even though the wrong form was used. The fact that it is described as an assured shorthold tenancy does not make it an assured shorthold tenancy. It cannot be an assured shorthold tenancy since it is not a tenancy of a dwelling. Accordingly the rules relating exclusively to assured shorthold tenancies do not apply.

What you have is a business tenancy and you have some protection, but it seems that you do not need to worry too much about that since the head landlord (the freeholder) is willing to grant you a new tenancy.

The minimum period of notice to bring a protected business tenancy to an end is six months. However, your immediate landlord (the leaseholder) cannot serve any such notice on you as he has less than fourteen months left on his tenancy. He himself is not entitled to a new tenancy of the premises you occupy as he is not himself in occupation. To use a legal term, he is not a "competent landlord" to serve notice on you.

You can ignore anything the leaseholder says to you. Concentrate on dealing with the freeholder. Agree your new tenancy as soon as possible. It is really important when taking a business tenancy to make sure you are legally represented. Go and see a landlord and tenant specialist solicitor without delay. This will cost you, but it is worth it to avoid problems. Believe me.