Landlord dodging paying me back rent

[robbie_D]

Hi there guys, and thanks in advance.

This is my first post here so apologies if its in the wrong section, and i'll keep it as brief as possible.

i run a small food business and on November 1st moved into a bigger premises, paying £1800 deposit and £1800 rent.

my contract states i have 2 month notice period from either party to cancel the agreement. It turns out that the person who i was renting it from (i was renting half of the space of the whole unit) was not the sole proprietor but was in fact renting it from another person, who was renting it from the business centre it was located in.

so the heirachy looked like this: Business centre > Person A > Person B (half of the space) > Me (half of the space).

I was unaware of this, thinking person B was renting the space directly from the business centre, and then one day the business centre manager approached me and asked my relationship to Person A (Who i had never met) and I just said that I was renting from Person B and never met or heard of Person A.

That night person A visits both me and person B in the kitchen (december 9th) and asks who I am as he has never met me and isnt aware of me. He tells me there and then that the business centre has contacted him and accused him of subletting to me and person B (which is exactly the truth). He tells me and person B that we both have to leave immediately (by the 13th december) as he wants to try and save his skin with his solicitor and the business centre.

i had paid £1800 for all of december, which i have receipts of and a signed contract for. I then had no premises to work from over christmas meaning i had to refund a lot of pre-orders from customers and missed out on christmas day orders (one of the busiest days of my calendar year).

Person B paid my deposit back of £1800 immediately, and mentioned he would pay the pro rata rent back to me when person A pays his deposit back to him as he is leaving the kitchen. I spoke to person A and he told me that person B owed him money in fact for decembers rent and he intends on staying in the space. I confusingly saw person B physically removing his equipment from the kitchen, even though Person A is claiming that he is staying in the kitchen. today both person A and person B had blocked me on every messaging and social media platform.

i do have addresses for both of them, is there any advisable route to go down to try and retrieve the circa £1000 I am owed in overpaid rent (not to mention the loss of earnings i experienced from being kicked out of a signed lease with 4 days notice)?

thanks in advance

[des8]

So the person from whom you rented had no rights to rent to you.
IMO this is fraud by false representation (a criminal offence, of which person A would also be guilty!)

Pragmatically though do you think B has the funds to be able to repay you, let alone reimburse you for your loss of trade?

You could write to B asking him to confirm when he intends to pay you, and hint that if he continues to ignore you you will take further action.
Whether or not it will be viable to initiate court proceedings will depend on whether or not he has assets with which to meet any award you might obtain

[robbie_D]

thanks very much for your response, much appreciated!

If I were to take further action would it be as simple as going through a standard solicitor? or is there like a small business equivalent of the Citizens advice bureau? (just conscious of my budget)

Thanks again

[des8]

I doubt it would be viable to go via a solicitor due to the costs involved, for the comparatively small amount due (£1,000 + loss of one month's profit?)