End of lease

[inlectorecumbit]

DH has leased a building for 15 years now. He wants to retire at the end of the current lease in the summer.
Reading the lease documents it states that the landlord should start negotiations about the terms of a new lease 6 months prior to the old one ending. There is no mention of how much notice DH has to give landlord ( who will be awkward about it) of not taking a new lease.
Historically the landlord has been slow to start negotiations and the longer we can delay telling him the better for us.
DH was going to tell him with 6 months to go but if there is no mention of this in the lease does he have to give this length of notice?

Do you mean he has a tenancy agreement that’s lasted 15 years and he pays rent? Or is this a leasehold property? I think it’s the former. Negotiate the notice if it’s not explicit. Give as long as possible - it’s reasonable to do this.

He has had a few leases of 2 and 3 years, whatever the landlord is willing to give. This last one has been a 3 year lease and he pays quarterly. Landlord has history of being awkward when neighbouring tenant wanted to leave and sabotaged the business in the last few months of the tenancy which was difficult to prove but fairly obvious.
DH was thinking of giving 3-4 months notice The Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 suggests that he is under no obligation to tell the landlord that he intends to vacate but DH feels that he wouldlike to be decent and give a bit of notice.
We just want everything done legally.

Is it a Commercial lease without a break clause he could be tied paying rent till the term of the lease comes to an end.
If he is coming to the end of a lease term he needs to give no notice just make arrangements to return the keys.

Thank you
Yes it is a commercial lease, no break clause but coming to an end after 3 years.
No doubt the landlord will contact DH in the New Year to negotiate terms for new lease but will say nowt till then.

There is no requirement to give notice in a commercial lease in order for the lease to be terminated. It automatically terminates at the end of the fixed term. LL & Tenant Act 1954.

Under the 54 act you used to have to give notice, you now just need to give vacant possession & give keys back but might be worth getting legal advice to check there’s no other specific requirements in the lease. Also check any dilapidations liability. (Surveyor here..)

Thanks again.
The terms of the lease do say that we have to restore building to original condition which will be a huge and potentially expensive job. We have a potential buyer but that's 50;50 just now, and if it was sold the landlord would want the lease guaranteed for at least a year and DH not sure he wants to do that.
Roll on the summer...
Thanks for all your help

Update

Well DH gave 3 months notice via email which was not acknowledged but we know he read as on receipt of email he arranged a meeting with the potential buyer which he later cancelled., We heard nothing until DH phoned him 2 weeks ago and then followed a meeting when DH re iterated his intention to retire and not to renew the lease The Landlord doesn't seem to want our potential buyer as a tennant (age related).
It is dragging on now and we need him to tell us what happens next as regards the dilapidations. As it stands the lease ends on the last day June but will take a while for the dilapidations to be completed if required.
Where do we stand if the work is not completed by the end of June bearing in mind it is not us that is holding things up as he still has not told us what work needs done.
So stressed about it all

You are on a repairing commercial lease the Landlord doe not need to tell you what he wants fixed, you are obligated to return the building to it's original state or improved, when you took out the first lease. This should be completed by the time you surrender the building.

Thanks but we bought the business as it currently fitted out and have no idea what "the original" state is. We bought it from someone else as it currently stands 14 years ago and has been "kitted out" in this way a few years before that.

Did you have a new lease issued when you took over the business or did you take over the existing lease. New lease it needs to be left in the state it was when you had your lease issue. Took over the existing lease much, much more difficult to sort out.

OP - appoint an RICS Building Surveyor to represent you. They'll be able to draw up a schedule of dilapidations and will review all of your lease docs to advise what needs to be done. Doing the work yourself (before the end of the term) will probably be the cheapest option. You'll have no rights after expiry unless you stay in occupation but then you'll need to give proper notice.

There's something called a s. 18 valuation which restricts the amount a LL can claim in for dilaps; the cost of the works or the reduction in capital value. Often the latter is £0 so it really is worth appointing a surveyor.

Usually and I say this as leases vary, you have a surveyor visit the property and serve a dilapidation schedule which will outline your responsibilities, have you had that?

Is the lease in a Ltd company name and if so does it include a personal guarantee?

Are you selling the business and the LL won’t allow the lease to the the buyer? Does the business need those premises.

The leases usually will also request items such as valid fixed wiring certification, fire risk assessment, asbestos, legionnaires and gas certificates. If applicable.

He should serve the dilapidates via the surveyor or a solicitor.

Re the condition, did you have a survey done when you moved in, if so was it attached to the lease?

Now l am getting very worried and scared
DH bought into the existing business mid lease, he then bought other partner out and thereafter took on a lease in his own name.
We were trying to sell/handover the business to an employee but the Ll is not keen on this due to her young age -mid/late 20's. So it looks like we will have to close it down as the business can't be moved.
I think DH has a personal guarantee on it.
I would love to explain in more detail but it would be so outing as it is quite a different building and business.

Would he consider entering into a personal guarantee agreement with the employee taking over the lease? LL might be happy with that, although a big risk!

Basically we bought into the business but did not take over the existing lease but when that lease finished a few years later DH was issued with the new lease.and has had a couple of new leases since then.
We have no idea what the original building interior looked like.
The Ll is now in talks with the employee but not keeping us in the loop but time is running for repairs/dilapdiations but we have made no structural changes since having the lease in DH's name. There will be a fair amount of work to do if we are responsible for the initial lease which we DH was not involved with.

If the landlord runs out of time for the dilapidations that’s his fault. It’s difficult without seeing your lease. Will the dilapidations impact any branding for the business? For example your branding is blue walls and the leases states back to neutral colours of landlord approval? This could allow negotiations on the dilapidations. Did you also instruct a solicitor for the new lease and any subsequent leases, what happened when the previous business owners lease expired, did he have to complete dilaps?

Also if I was your buyer of the business I would expect the min CDM regulations in place, the 5 year fixed wiring certificates etc I mentioned above. They should be in place anyway as it’s a legal requirement.