Cafe lease - rubbish equipment

[Jochef]

Hi
I wondered if anyone could help with some advice or point me in the right direction

My husband and I took a 5 year lease on a Cafe in Cumbria in March 2024.

Long story short - the equipment is simply not up to scratch and it’s very difficult to run the business how we would like to because of the equipment.

The landlord has replaced the dishwasher - that took a year, and recently the oven died, which we had to pay to have repaired. I’ve paid to have the fridge fixed as it was running hot and we’ve bought a lot of new equipment ourselves.

He has offered to ‘go halves’ with us on anything we want to buy - which, obviously we’re not prepared to do.

We have rent arrears now, which I am aiming to clear by mid November.

The thought of staying here for another 3 years makes us feel very miserable.

The business is good, we get cracking reviews and have a good local regular clientele, however, we are finding the landlord very difficult.

Does anyone know how we stand legally ? Sadly we’ve not documented anything, though there is a storeroom with a lot of broken kitchen appliances in it…..

What does the contact specifically say with regard to equipment provision

Yes this - presumably it is part of your lease so what are the details?

Do you mean the maintenance or that it’s fit for purpose ?

What the lease says specifically in terms of equipment - the whole shebang. What it included. Who pays for maintenance. What happens if it explodes. Everything. If you didn’t bring equipment into the situation then this is a massive part of your lease.

No op

everything related to provision of equipment

You need to carefully read all points relating to equipment provision

Landlords equipment: the equipment belonging to the Landlord which is on the Demised Premises at the date of this lease

there is a clause about jointly insuring the equipment

to keep equipment in good repair and working condition and to replace if it’s unfixable with similar value and quality

*sigh - doesn’t look good

There isn’t anything about equipment provision…..

We’ve bought a lot of stuff - industrial microwave, freezer, fridges etc
because the oven was crap I’m using a huge air fryer, there isn’t room for anything else.
I can’t see anything in the lease about equipment provision.
He didn’t have anything serviced before we took it on, been closed for 2 years prior to that .

It all sounds really vague and not properly sorted out before you took the place on - I’m honestly not saying this to be rude, I am trying to think how to help, but it sounds so loose around the key details.

Thank you, I appreciate any advice.
It’s our fault for not checking all of it first, but we were so excited.

He is very crafty, I emailed him about getting the fridge fixed, he said that’s up to us, as it turns out in the lease it is. So I asked him for the number of the people he used to service it before we opened. That one he didn’t reply to, but came into the cafe with a number for us.

How long is the lease for lovely?

So there is no list of precisely what equipment would be provided under the lease agreement? Seriously?

We signed for 5 years….from March 2024

No, not an inventory either

Woah

That is not good. For you.

Please say that you had a solicitor go over the contract before signing?

It sounds like his offer to go halves with you on new equipment is quite generous. From what you say in the contract he’s not obliged to provide anything other than what already there, and even that is down to you to maintain.

The alternative is just to buy new equipment yourselves and sell it/take it with you when your lease is up.

Agreed

this LL sounds very very generous and reasonable

Sorry the inventory thing is foxing me - nothing to say what equipment is there, it’s condition?

Without an inventory
no responsibility

this contract…. Scribbled on the back of a fag packet?

commercial tenancies need to be very very detailed and clear
equipment such as this would usually be under a service agreement

Agree.

No, sadly. Serious shoulda woulda coulda going on now

We have a storage area in the floor above. I put all his crap stuff up there, but the oven is hard wired in.

No solicitor
on 5 year commercial tenancy contract

Good grief OP. No words.

Other than accept very very very graciously the LL’s very generous offer!!

Oh mate. Let me give it a bit of thought.

Especially as she’s in arrears….