Retrospective charges - help please

[The cobbett slayer]

My father in law has a small business which he runs from a rented premises.

He took the premises on a 10 year agreement which still has some time to run but a couple of years ago, the original landlord sold the premises, with f-i-l still in residence so to speak.

The tenancy agreement with the original landlord included rates in the rent, the only things f-i-l paid for were his utilities.

Last week, the new owner contacted him and demanded that he pay 2 years rates arrears as the new owner has decided that the rent doesn't include rates.

There was no new tenancy agreement when the new owner bought the property so am I right in thinking that he can't do this and dad has no obligation to pay him. He bought the property with a sitting tenant and unless otherwise agreed, it is the owner not the tenant who is responsible for the rates. There has been ample opportunity to make a new agreement as dad increased the space he rented from the landlord as recently as 6 months ago and nothing was mentioned then.

I'm reasonably sure about my thoughts on this one but before I pitch in with a letter on dad's behalf does anyone have any thoughts or advice please.

Ta
Paul

[Nightmare4banks]

Hi all!

Paulshieber,based on what you have posted and in my opinion:

1.The terms & conditions of the tenancy/lease that were signed by the previous landlod and your f-i-l and legally binding on both parties for the duration of the agreement.

2.Without being unpleasant with the new landlord,simply send him a recorded delivery letter with a copy of the agreement highlighting the fact that of the clause that the rates are payable by the landlord.

I hope you find this information useful.

If you have any further questions,just ask.

Keep us posted.

All the best!
All the best

[meagain]

AFAIK, he can drop the all-inclusive but you should see a reduction in the rent (if you don't, see your council's Private Tenancy Officer). Either way, because the old landlord was paying the bills, and the rent has been paid, the new landlord should be pursuing this matter with the old landlord, not their tenants. Yet another example of how landlords seem to see tenants as an easy way of making a bit of extra cash on top of the rent.

[Nightmare4banks]

I would tend to disagree with what meagian(no offence intended!) has posted because:

1.The agreement between the landlord and the tenant/leaseholder is of a commercial nature and thus The Landlord & Tenant Act 1954 applies here and NOT any housing act associated with residential private lettings.Here a private tenancy officer would get involved.

2.Any advice in this sort of matter should be obtained from a chartered surveyor that is a specialist in commercial tenancies/leases.

There is another posting on this website(because I personally put it here!) with the full contact details of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.

[The cobbett slayer]

Thanks for the replies.

We are at the stage where the previous landlord has said he will contact the new owner and furnish him with a copy of the tenancy agreement as he agres with f-i-l that the rates are still payable by the new landlord.

They have a meeting tomorrow to sort it out so I'll hopefully be able to post a resolution by Wednesday

[meagain]

Originally Posted by Nightmare4banks

1.The agreement between the landlord and the tenant/leaseholder is of a commercial nature and thus The Landlord & Tenant Act 1954 applies here and NOT any housing act associated with residential private lettings.Here a private tenancy officer would get involved.

Oops, seems like I missed that part.

Either way, the issue of any arrears in bills and the like should still be recoverable from the previous landlord, not the tenants, on account of the tenants having already paid this as part of the rent. If the landlord decided to keep that money instead of paying the bills with it, that should be their problem, not yours. This is the same as when the landlord decides to pass bank charges on to their tenants - the bank stole their money, not you.