Shop lacks sanitation- what can tenant do?

[crispy]

I am a long term (10 years)renter of a shop that has no inside toilet.Myself and my staff have to walk around the back of the shop to use a joint toilet.This toilet is shared by the indian take-away next door to us(all men).Needles to say the toilet is in an absolute state and has been that way for the last 10 years.Just to give you a vauge idea, think of the toilet in the film Trainspotting.If you don't know the film it is basically disgusting.
After numerous requests over the years for the landlord to sort something out i.e a new toilet, hand basin, nothing has been done.
Having tried the softly,softly approach I now want to take things a step further but don't know what my rights are regarding this.
If anybody has any suggestions could they please let me know and I could at the very least have some kind of ammunition to fire at him the next time I contact him.Thanks in advance.

[SteveP]

Your rights and obligations will be set out in the lease, as will the landlords. Since I have not seen it it is hard to say what rights you may have.

However, you certainly have obligations to your staff and regardless of what your landlord does or does not do you need to sort this out.

It really must be worth paying a solicitor or a chartered surveyor for some advice, but they will need to see your lease.

I can't even give you any vague pointers if I don't know.

1) What your lease says about the WC. If it is not part of your demise does the lease say you have the right to use it? Is it part of the other shops demise?

2) If the lease inducates the right to use the W.C. what does it say about maintaining it?

3) If the lease say the W.C. will be maintained by the landlord then he is responsible for it, although it is likely that he can recover the costs from the leaseholders. What does the lease say about service charges?

[crispy]

Thanks for taking the time to reply to me.

Unfortunatly when I first took on the shop we had a verbal (yes,I can imagine you tutting and shaking your head!) agreement as regards the renting of the property.
Basically,he agreed,as did I,to review the rent once every 3 years and as long as i insured the inside of the property (excluding any outside structures)then we were both happy to continue with this agreement.

This has been the only sticking point in an otherwise perfect agreement.

[SteveP]

If you have nothing in writing and have a dispute about your rights or obligations, then only a court can decide what they are.