hi folks, looking for some advice,

1.5 ago myself and friend took on a lease for a shop on a site of a boarding kennels, we opened as dog groomers, the problem we have, the owner could not understand she was renting us the shop, but would come down and use the shop, send others down to use, never cleaned it, put a lot of pressure on my friend who has now had a bit of a meltdown with what all has being going on

The shop was very grubby, which she had painted white, not a great paint job may i add, but at least it was clean,shop has struggled a bit, so to cheer ourselves up make the shop look great and hopefully a fresh look and better appeal, few months back we repainted the shop, making it bright and more modern looking, well did she not kick off, went off her head saying how dark it is, was done in cream white and luscious lime lol, moaning she could not see a thing she was doing, and that all groomers shops should be white to capture light.

I pointed out it did not state in the lease i could not paint the shop, and that it was not done for her benefit, but ours and that of customers, and that when we would give notice in the shop, which is a month it would be returned back to how we got it, no structural changes were made, and customers who had seen it before were amazed at the difference and how great the shop looked. well since then she has hardly spoke to me, which is no loss to me really, but has pressured my friend so much she has had a meltdown with it all, and cannot face going back their to work again.

She worked in the shop and i worked in the mobile unit we have also, she was off sick for a couple of weeks before i really caught up with her and found out what was going on, in this meantime, i was getting messages off her asking why the shop is not covered, saying we owed rent, which we did, was only a couple weeks behind, and not the 4 she was claiming it to be, i informed her last week that my friend was off sick, and that i would be seeing her this tue, to find out how she was, i had actually seen her during the week when she told me she could not face going back and that she has had a melt down over it.

So i left it to the tue before i would say anything to them, thought i would give my friend the weekend to think about it, before having to make rash decisions and give our notice, so on the tue i went to the kennels to tell the manager first about her meltdown, to give our notice, and that i would get the shop painted back to how we got it, where i was their informed that the owner has keeps using the shop, ordered him to change the locks, and remove our sign

I then got another message off her saying the rent is behind, the deposit has never being paid, and that i owe her 1300, which is including the 4 weeks notice to quit and the deposit and back rent, the deposit was agreed to be paid up before all of this happened, but under Scottish law does she not also have to give me 4 wks notice, at this point i had not told her i was giving my notice, and she did not know i knew the locks had being changed.

By changing the locks she has officially i would say evicted us from the shop, and at the same time broken the law by not giving us notice, and therefore broken her own lease, anyone got further thoughts on this, not sure what to do for the best

By changing the locks she has effective terminated the lease

( prabably unlawfully but lest ignore that for the moment)

so cant ask for money for 4 weeks notice when she cannot (will not) perform her side of the contract.

Do you have anything of value in the premises?

If not just walk away as neither side owes the other side anything once the dust has settled.

Yes, each side has an argument that can be proved but only to their own detriment.

A fight will only add costs and gain nothing.

if she continues to demand monies you should point this out to her in writing and keep that as the only method of communication.

Solid wall of OP text does not help comprehension - for me at least!

just an update, and some advice as to what i should do,

i have now had a letter from the simple procedure for claims under 5k.

what concerns me is that she has told lie after lie,

most of which i can prove,

by her own words,

in previous messenger messages she has sent me,

but my concerns now are all the lies,

the false allegations,

which she has included on the procedure papers,

she has accused me of breaking in,

and even how i am supposed to have gone about this,

which i know is complete bull,

bearing in mind there is 2 houses on the site of the kennels and quite a lot of dogs that would have the place in uproar at any sounds heard,

slander,

definition of character,

harassment,

even sending people down to use the shop when we were not there,

i am also accused of stealing items of hers,

again all fabrication,

i can post copy of all her messages and the procedure letter,

and you can see that overtime she messages its a different story from the last message,

and the same with the procedure papers she has sent me,

should i phone the police,

with regards to her false accusations,

just not sure what steps i should be taking

well you must reply to the SPC.

using form 3a

i am aware of that

everything wil come out in court,

each side will be allowed to put their side of things as outlined in their statements and then question and be questioned.

The judge will be asking questions as well so inconstencies in her story you have hghlighted are very likely to be investigated further.

Now in a civil court it is rare for a judge to call a person a liar but they will use phrases that point in that direction such as you being a credible witness and not saying the same for the other side.

They may say they prefer your recollection of a particular point,

again avoiding the obvious conclusion about what they think of the other sides version.

stick to the facts,

support what you can with written evidence and witness statements if you can get them from others.

these statements will carry less weight than a person atttending but wont be ruled out.

also, this is a B2B matter so verbal agreements carry more weight than they would in a consumer or simple domestic landlord/tenant matter.

just an update,

the judge has replied back with a date for the 28th for a mediation meeting before he decides if it goes to court or not,

i was in seen a solicitor the other day, that was not really that helpful, and a case they would be unlikely to assist in,

the only thing i left with really, was what she has done is committed a criminal act, breaking the law when giving no notice, changing locks, never said anything about what i should do,

do i report this to the police, she said nothing about the slander, false accusations, definition of character, sent in messages and also listed on the court papers,

the judge did also suggest we speak to each other before the date, to see if we can sort it out between us

you mean you have a case management discussion

no such thing as mediation in scotland

already said, stick to the facts of the matter.

slander false accusations etc arent facts of the matter and will muddy the waters if you raise them.

By all means show that the claim has ERRORS in it and have something in writing that rebuts those parts but never say lies slander, libel etc

Now the case managemnt meeting will normally result in an order being given to one side or the other to show what they intend to rely on if it gets to a full court hearing and that usually results in the case being decided by default if the party ordered to stump up the evidence fails to do so in a certain time (usually 14 days)

so if it looks like the claim is shaky then the order will be for the claimiant to PROVE their claim or it will be struck out

so listen very carefully to what is said as both sides may have to produce some paperwork

(usually in your case a witness statement giving details as to why you dont owe the money).

You will need to have with you copies of the relevant legislation and be able to quote how the law has been broken

so get copying and also write down why you say it is unlawful conduct.

Just saying it is may well be saying the truth but you have to show the What Where When Why and how. being better prepared than the other person will make the judges life easier and that makes a big difference to how this meeting goes as it may well bury the claim there and then whereas a convoluted ramble will just result in orders for proof so not to waste the courts time, which in itself will be wasting court time.

So get reading and writing

do you know by any chance where i can find the relevant legislation on business lease, i have scrolled the internet and all i can seem to find is for residential, or i few paragraphs on a solicitors page, was at the CAB today and only found a section that talks about it briefly, away to have another look anyway, CAB have given me other ideas to search for it, so hopefully find something on it

not leasehold legislation, you need to look up things like "performance of contract". see my original comments, that is what is important so stop looking for somehting that doesnt exist and find examples of cases that are relevant and use them as being "persuasive" or if you are lucky "compelling"

thanks for that

Hi

The procedure which commercial leases are terminated by the landlord for breach by the tenant is known as irritancy in Scotland.

This is basically the Scottish Law equivalent of forfeiture in English Law.

Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1985: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/73/contents

Sections 4 & 5 may be of interest

Have you checked the lease for any clauses on:

1. Re-entry by Landlord.

2. Notification of Termination.

3. In the other sides documents are they referring to any specific clauses/legislation etc, we really need more information

ah thanks stu thats exactly what i was looking for, appreciate that, helps a lot