HELP Licence to LEt commercial property is it SAFE

[ibs]

Hi, I was wondering if someone would be able to help me i am about to let a ground floor shop and requested that the landlord provide us with his terms of agreement he then sent us a one page document simply detailing what rent we pay him, when contract starts, when it ends, when payments are due, he also goes onto state that we would have to pay £75 p.a towards the building insurance and further goes onto state that we would be responsible for full repairing and insuring basis with us responsible for repairs and in the event of any external repairs to the building we would be responsible for either one half of expenditure incurred or at the rate of £75p.a whichever is lower it does not state anything about the landlords or tenants obligations nor does it state anything regarding notices to quit or anything like that. IS A LICENCE SAFE TO ENTER AND WHAT RIGHTS DO I HAVE AND WHAT RIGHTS DOES THE LANDLORD HAVE. Please can someone help me out as we are meant to occupy by the 28th april 2005.
:confused:

[daveyjp]

Seems like it contains most things you would expect of a tenancy. Start date, duration, costs to be paid, repairs etc - there is no fixed format for a business tenancy like there is for residential. Yes it looks sketchy and lawyers would have a field day should there be a dispute. If you are not happy you could go and get a full lease drafted which will run in to tens of pages and cost hundreds of pounds. Our basic Heads of Terms is two pages - 19 clauses, but this is followed up by a lease.

There will be no mention of notice to quite etc as the Heads of Terms imply it is a tenancy/lease you are entering in to (start and end date, regular payments etc) so Landlord and Tenant Acts apply and details of notices etc are contained within the acts (in my expereince a landlord preparing leases like you have probably doesn't know there is such a thing as the Landlord and Tenant Acts!). If the intention is to exclude Landlord and Tenant Act protection this must be explicity stated in all documentation.

I have just taken responsibility for a tenanted building we have just purchased and all the tenants agreements are similar to what you have been given, so such documentation is not unusual.