Tenant gone

[stagman]

Hi all, I'm new to this site and wondered if someone can help.

I have a small ground floor shop that was let to a Ltd company some 5 years ago. The lease was drawn up by a solicitor and is very comprehensive, some 35 pages long!

The problem is that the rent has not come in for the last two quarters. On further investigation the tenant has illegally sublet and the original tenant dissapeared, they are no longer at the original contact address.

My question is therefore, as the subtenant wants to stay in the shop and pay rent to me, can I just have a new lease drawn up, cancelling the old one?

Thanks for any advice in advance.

James

[yeahbutno]

As always 1) read the lease carefully, and 2) get some proper advice from a solicitor who specialises in commercial property and a surveyor.

That said, I'd have thought you probably have sufficient legal grounds to declare the original lease forfeited based on their illegal sublet, and their abandoning the property. If the company in question is still trading, you could probably sue them for the missing rent and your costs in getting the building re-let.

You can then draw up a new lease with the sub-tenant, and would obviously have the opportunity to negotiate afresh on things like rent, and dates for rent reviews etc.