Office rental terms & conditions

[ModernAndy]

PurpleMoonlight said:

You want to argue that the contract states £370 for a 6 months Licence and you are therefore legally due a refund of 5 months rent that you have been invoiced for and happily paid, because you want out of the contract with one months notice and not three?

Good luck with that.

Why not just accept the consequences of your actions and failure to understand the contract and stop trying to steal from the landlord.

I appreciate that brevity rules on a forum so it's very hard to get over the whole story but it was understood by both parties at the time before and during the signing of the contract that the minimum term was 12 months. As is normal with a lease, you can leave at the end of the fixed period by giving notice of around a month (although I believe the safe notice period is 40 days). I do also have another document that states the minimum term should be 12 months as well. The situation is made unclear simply by the term 'initial period'.

As I'm sure you can ascertain, I'm not trying to steal from the landlord and have no intention of either getting a refund or spending any duration of time in the office for free. I will also offer a reasonable notice period. I'm also sure you understand there is a spirit to the contract that is very different from that they are trying to enforce and to protect my interests and what was actually agreed, I must use the way the contract is written to my advantage.

[ModernAndy]

JQ said:

What qualifications does your expert have, as that's not what would happen in England as far as I'm aware - IANAL? You also seem to be getting hung up on 1 months notice. Again in England, that relates to residential property not commercial property - the law is totally different between resi and commercial.

A solicitor. On the second point, if you have a lease or rental agreement (and I'm talking about a commercial one here) with a fixed term you can't just leave at the end of it, you need to give adequate notice. I can't cite the exact law but have looked it up in researching this.

[PurpleMoonlight]

You aren't in a position to vacate today so you have no argument that no notice was required and it was a fixed 12 months (or revised to 7).

Your dispute is now whether 3 months notice is required as stipulated in the Licence or the legislation (as you claim) only requires 1 month.

Edited by PurpleMoonlight on Thursday 1st October 08:57

[ModernAndy]

PurpleMoonlight said:

You aren't in a position to vacate today so you have no argument that no notice was required and it was a fixed 12 months (or revised to 7).

Your dispute is now whether 3 months notice is required as stipulated in the Licence or the legislation (as you claim) only requires 1 month.

Edited by PurpleMoonlight on Thursday 1st October 08:57

Not so, you cannot just leave a rented property, you have to give notice. That notice can be given on the last day of the fixed period.

[PurpleMoonlight]

ModernAndy said:

Not so, you cannot just leave a rented property, you have to give notice. That notice can be given on the last day of the fixed period.

Regardless, you have yet to serve any so the 3 or 1 month dispute is still the issue.

[ModernAndy]

PurpleMoonlight said:

Regardless, you have yet to serve any so the 3 or 1 month dispute is still the issue.

I will be serving it today, the last day of the fixed period. The 'thereafter' has not yet begun. I must stress I let them know verbally my intention to leave a good while before beginning this topic and have since then been researching exactly where I stand from a legal position and I want to do the right thing legally. I appreciate where you're coming from but I'm not trying to be deceptive, I'm just trying to stick to what was initially agreed. Again, the 'initial period' is the issue as this was considered to be a fixed period by both parties when the docs were signed and to myself at least, is an unusual clause for a rental agreement.

My initial thoughts were that I'd have to vacate by today but having researched it, I must give reasonable notice. This does not mean the contract then goes into what would normally be the 'rolling' part. I would vacate today if I had to.

[sideways sid]

I haven't read everything in detail, but it seems that:
You signed a contract that you didn't understand, and have since realised that fact.
The Tenancy Agreement / License to Occupy confusion was fundamental to that.
You asked for advice here rather than from your solicitor to see if you could rely on your understanding rather than the written contract that was in effect.
You have received good advice from other contributors here.

The obvious answer is:
Serve your notice.
Pay the three months per the contract rather than one month you had hoped for.
The cost of the 'extra' 2 months is in the hundreds of pounds, so probably a frustrating but manageable write-off, rather than a life-changing catastrophe.
Do not incur legal fees or headaches disputing it.
Put it down to experience, move on to new premises and make sure you understand what you're signing in future.

[ModernAndy]

sideways sid said:

I haven't read everything in detail, but it seems that:
You signed a contract that you didn't understand, and have since realised that fact.
The Tenancy Agreement / License to Occupy confusion was fundamental to that.
You asked for advice here rather than from your solicitor to see if you could rely on your understanding rather than the written contract that was in effect.
You have received good advice from other contributors here.

The obvious answer is:
Serve your notice.
Pay the three months per the contract rather than one month you had hoped for.
The cost of the 'extra' 2 months is in the hundreds of pounds, so probably a frustrating but manageable write-off, rather than a life-changing catastrophe.
Do not incur legal fees or headaches disputing it.
Put it down to experience, move on to new premises and make sure you understand what you're signing in future.

I agree with you in most respects and agree that the extra 2 months won't cause us a great deal of concern. There is more of a back-story to this as well as a few other missives that I haven't shared and the reason it's so hard to deal with properly is that we were surprised by the lack of a fixed period when we tried to give notice previously. When we were in the process of applying for the room and then signing the contract last year, it was made clear to us that the minimum period was 12 months when it is in fact 15 months and, contractually speaking, we still can't give notice till later. In particular, the distinction between 'initial period' and 'fixed period' was something that was only brought to my attention recently. I certainly have learned and understood more from this experience anyway.

There is more going on including them raising the price by way above inflation and asking us to sign a new contract but I understand these are separate issues to the licence.