Does business tenant have security of tenure?

[SALL]

I have a business lease for a shop for a year. If at the end of the year the landlord wants to evict me, can he do so?

would Security of Tenure apply?

The landlord did not serve any notice saying Security of Tenure will not apply to this lease.

[ah84]

Then I believe you have security of tenure unless landlord can prove certain possession grounds to the court.

[Mark Hessel]

Sall

Unless you executed an agreement that said the provisions of the landlord and tenant act 1954 are excluded then you have a protected tenancy. You can either wait to see what LL does i.e wait for them to serve section 25 notice or they may simply allow your lease to continue i.e just keep taking rent monthly/quarterly etc; or you can serve a Section 26 request for new tenancy.

If LL tries to refuse and it goes to Court then Court can grant up to 15 year lease, LL would need to argue why a longer lease should not be granted.

I must say it is unusual to find such a short lease, usually 3 years is minimum I see.

[starlettings]

so in a nutshell no lease is great news fot T!

[Mark Hessel]

Not really as it is running "at will" with no real long term security assured. How can a business tenant consider there 3, 5 or 10 year business aims and targets if they cannot be certain they will occupy the premises that long? How can they contemplate making any alterations, decorating etc if at any time the landlord could serve a notice saying he intends to redevelop.

Compare this with a tenant who has a 5, 10 or 15 year written lease. Whilst it may (though not always) have a break clause after the 5 year mark in a 10 or 15 year lease, that is 5 years of certainty at least. This means you can plan (and raise finance), Sall will face financing issues when any lender finds out that they have no guaranteed commitment to the site.

As in any situation, there are pros and cons, it all depends on what is best for each individual tenant.

[SALL]

Hi Mark,

I wanted the lease for 6 years, but the agents are a bit unprofessional when it comes to commercial properties. So when I Went to sign the agreement it was for 1 year. but it says I have a option to renew for another 6 years so I assume i'm completly safe for 7 years?