court case

[inform]

I hope you don't think I am greedy posting so many threads at the mo.

Following on from my previous thread 'rent increase'

Would there be any benefit in us as landlords taking our tenant to court or should we wait until he makes the next move and takes us to court. I don't know how the court process works, format, timing etc. Do we stand as witnesses and am I able to make representation myself or is it left to the professionals and who should that be, Surveyor or Solicitor.

These questions are really based on the advise of agingsurveyor's last reply (post No 16) of my rental increase question.

Thanks

[agingsurveyor]

Your solicitor should advise you about these matters. There are a lot of formal documents to be prepared and dates to be met. The usual process is for a barrister (or your solicitor if he does advocacy) to represent you and present the legal arguments and for you to give evidence. A surveyor can only give evidence, he is not allowed to act as advocate. As the old lease continues until the matter is concluded I should think you need to take the initiative. With any luck the tenant's solicitor will tell him that you're being reasonable and he will settle. Don't forget the loser pays the winner's costs and we are not talking about just a few hundred pounds! - this is not the small claims court! I am currently acting for a restaurateur whose landlord wants the property back for his own occupation and the costs of proceeding to a full court hearing is estimated a £10 - £15,000 per party! BUT (and repeat after me) your solicitor should advise you!

[inform]

I understand agingsurveyor and I shall contact my solicitor on Monday. Our surveyor gave us the opinion that it was he and he alone that represents and makes argument. the cost implications I see are significant and this is a sobering thought. Thanks for you time on this.

Inform

[agingsurveyor]

It is normal for the surveyor to represent you whilst you are still in negotiation. Once negotiations have failed, its over to the lawyers!

I would be interested to know what is so unique about the property?

Keep us posted.

[inform]

Nothing is unique in our opinion. It is a B1(c) useage property used for car repairs and MOT services. It is in a mixed commercial and residential area in south London. This type of premise and usage so we have been told is in good demand as there is not much if any around hence the problem of rent.

Since we don't know how premises are calculated in terms of £ per square footage, we can only trust our surveyor. We have been told that although there is a lot of land (you need a bit for MOT and parking regulations) this doesn't command as much as office space and workshop where the money seems to be.

Ironically our tenant has been trying for the past 8 years to get out of his lease obligations and 2 years prior to renewal found someone who wanted to take over the lease, he wouldn't entertain giving it back to us (for obvious reasons) which we would have accepted. Its strange that the new tenant was prepared to pay the increase we are asking but he is not.

what we are really worried about is that if the matter does goes to court, it could be successfullly argued that the lease should be modernised and alienation rights given and there are difference of opinions between professionals with this one. However we would rather have the premises back than it go to a third party again (another question for my solicitor tomorrow) and my quess is that we will be told that we are not entitled to this. Everyone seems to get so worked up about alienations rights as if this is always the best option but we just don't see it in our circumstances. We could if we didn't want the premises back .


We can only hope that our latest proposal to keep the lease exactly the same including the rent but for 5 years only, will help him see sense after all, he is renewing his lease is he not.

Sorry for going off at a tangent.

inform