we are disputing rent we owe, is it a good idea to pay the amount we consider we owe and dispute the rest;?

[mumonthenet]

or should we pay nothing and keep arguing til we get a solicitor's letter?

Pay.

agree. pay.

Google "witholding rent" It's mostly abour witholding rent in lieu of repairs not being done but think same principle applies ie you can't

Do you want to give some more info and I'll see if I can help/point you in the right direction?

Have you kept all the reciepts/bank statements with the payments going out on them?

If you don't pay then it will look like you are trying to avoid paying at all, and do not actually have a reason to dispute. It gives your argument more weight if you pay. Why are you disputing the amount, are they asking for more than usual, or are you wanting to pay less?

Don't want to go into great detail here for privacy reasons. So this is a very simplified version - sorry to be vague but your opinions would still be useful.

The premises have been vacant for some months with us paying the rent. The intention was to move back in. The landlord then moved the goalposts and said he wished to let it to someone else. He gave us a reasonable amount of notice.

OK, we accept that we will not move back in, but feel that the landlord had a duty to advise us sooner that we were no longer appropriate tenants...otherwise why would we keep the damn thing vacant?

I feel we should pay say, 2/3 of the outstanding amount. I also feel, as youknownothing says, that paying something would put us in a stronger position.

Really should talk to a solicitor I suppose.

So you are not living there now?

Do you think he kept you there, paying rent to hold it, while he was trying to find someone else?

Yes. Talk to a solicitor.

I don't get though, why, if you were paying the rent and intending to move in, why he wouldn't just leave it like that. He was getting his money regardless. Did you take longer to move in than agreed? Did you change anything from the original agreement? Is he giving a reason why he doesn't want you to just carry on paying until you move in? oh - are you paying full rent or a token?

No, not living there....business premises.

We did occupy it for several years. Vacated it but in general chat advised landlord that we would probably require to move back in. All fine, some of our stuff stayed there. Full rent due and paid (quarterly I think).

Yes, some elements of our agreement have changed, of which the landlord was aware and, we understood, had no objection to.

Landlord now saying as we no longer fit the agreed terms we can no longer rent it. As I say, we don't have a particular prob with that, but feel he should have advised us of his objection earlier...then we could have vacated earlier and not incurred rental.

I feel morally we definately owe him part of the rent and we should pay that...and not delay further. However, on principle (and it's not an enormous amount of money) I think he should meet us halfway on the rest.
Other partners involved and none of us quite agree!

No, hecate I don't think he was keeping us there knowingly while looking for other tenants. I think he just completely forgot about us.

So it's a lease you have, not a tenancy?

pay up and then dispute.

Oh gawd scrooged I don't know, would it make a difference?. I'm not the Principal in this.

Have just been googling withholding rent. Interesting stuff. However landlord can't evict us as we've now vacated...just not paid up!

Expat, what do you reckon, pay the lot and dispute, or pay what we think reasonable and dispute the rest?

but was it clear when you vacated that your intention was not to cooperate with terms of lease if you returned ? Just thinking say you had run a retail shop then wanted to serve food that might breach planning consent, for example, or if you were going to sublet. If that was clear from the otuset then he could have givwn notice then but was under no obligation to. As you "occupied" the premises by leaving your stuff there in the interim I suspect you are liable.

I would seek some legal advice first before you do anything. If you are not in the building then costs won't mount. You are allowed to seek advice.

If you have been paying the rent and not using the building why does the owner think you owe him money. I'm sorry but there are bits that you have missed out so I'm just trying to get my head around your problem. The notice periods for a tenancy and a lease are alot different, if he's given you notice then this mattters. The notice period should say on the lease.

Did he give you anything formally to say he wanted the property back? Do you have anything in writing from him confirming changes to the lease/tenancy?

Until your lease is ended you need to pay
If you don't pay then you might have to cough up interest on top

Pay what you think you owe, dispute the rest.

Then if he starts court proceedings it would be difficult for him to try to make out that you are only disputing because you have no intention of paying at all.

There's a lot of grey areas here I know. And really should get some legal advice.

Gotta run collect dc's will check back later.