Can L obtain possession against shop tenant?

[peeteegee]

A friend rents an area at a garden centre and operates his own business from the premises (pet shop). His landlord intends to develop the site and it seems that he is trying to avoid paying the relocation costs to a different site in the garden centre by issuing an eviction order. The lease is within the Landlord & Tenant Act.

This has happened on a previous occasion which my friend fought using a solicitor. However, on this occasion he has trumped up some nonsense to discredit my friend in court.

Can anyone advise me please?

[daveyjp]

you have not given enough info re the lease but in general terms:

If the lease is within the Landlord and Tenant Act your friend is protected and removing tenants is not easy unless you have valid reasons.

Redevelopment is a reason, but the landlord must be in a position to redevelop soon after he has possession - i.e.relevant permissions in place, money available etc. If he uses this ground to remove a tenant the Court will want to see evidence of the redevelopment and the tenant is entitles to compensation.

If your friend has not honoured the terms of the agreement then this is a valid ground for not renewing a elase , but it needs to be proved in Court and if the court agrees the landlord can get possession and not pay compensation.

[peeteegee]

Thank you daveyjp. Apparently the grounds to discredit my friend were that he has paid the rent late on a couple of occasions.

[daveyjp]

Depending on his length of occupancy (which appears to be a while if he has had to move before) a couple of late rent payments is unlikely to be seen as a major breach of the terms by a Court. In general the landlord needs to prove a tenant has been in persistent breach of the terms for the Court to side with the landlord. If it gets serious I advise your friend o appoint a professional - either a solicitor or a RICS surveyor.