What are responsibilities of Landlord in this case?

[angrymomma]

DDs preschool is leased from the vicar at local church. Preschool is a registered charity.
Landlord has never paid for any work to be done, ie, leeking roof, decorating, new windows, central heating servicing have all been paid by preschool.
They pay high rent AND service charges.
I thought you had to pay service charges but only a nominal rent of about £100 per annum.

Who is responsible for repairs and should they pay rent and service charge too...both pretty high.

Preschool have already spent about £15,000 on repairs so far.

What does the lease say?

If the central heating system is gas powered then the landlord has a legal requirement to service the boiler/flu at least once a year and supply the tenant with a legal testing certificate which must be supplied by a registered gas safe engineer.

I haven't actually seen the lease, but the manager of the preschool says her solicitor has seen it and says its perfectly legal.
It may be legal but it all seems to be to landlords advantage.
Are leases not all basically the same, or can laldlords put in whatever they want, ie you pay for everything while I sit back and do sod all?

It would still depend on the lease. Its not a residential building. I lease a commercial building and I own the central heating system; its got nothing to do with the landlord and he isn't under obligation to do anything to it. I also have to do all the repairs which have included new windows and repairs to the foundations and roof. Other people have different leases. Its up to the individuals to negotiate when the lease is being drawn up. Our landlord can be as arsey as he likes because he knows we are unlikely to move as we just have to factor in what it costs to the bottom line.

wineclub is right - it totally depends on the lease.

I imagine that the lease granted was a commercial property lease, even thought the pre-school don't pay a market rent.

Most commercial property leases are very different from residential leases and very often the tenant accepts a full repairing obligation. This can be very onerous if the lease is of a whole building, particularly if the building is in a state of disrepair when the lease is granted - it can actually oblige the tenant to improve the building (at the tenant's cost). Landlords of commercial buildings often expect the rent they receive to be pure profit (e.g. they pay no running or repairing costs at all)

It may be worth the pre-school asking a solicitor to look at their lease - they may even get some initial free advice if a local firm provides a "first free hour".