Quick advice Re getting my deposit back for a commercial lease.

[lomaximus1]

Hi all! As per title my ex landlord has not returned the deposit at the end of the commercial lease despite me sending a letter of intent. I have given the landlord 28 days to respond to my letter of intent but it has been ignored. It has been 80 days since we vacated the unit. The lease is in a limited company name and the landlord is just solely in his name (personal liability) I just need 2 bits of guidance with the below… thanks in advance…

1. the deposit deed has not been adhered to and the deposit has not been secured as per contract during the tenancy. I believe the landlord may have spent it and hence why I have not received it back. The deposit was £6000. Can I claim for compensation of this breach just through the CPR part 8 n208 form. Or do I need to make any other representation?

2. As the deposit has not been returned do I just make a small claim against the landlord? There is mainly just info online about claiming if it was a residential lease. Does the same apply if it is commercial? Are there separate forms for a small claim as a business!?

Many Thanks

[lomaximus1]

Sorry just to clarify the lease is in our ltd company name and the landlord has it in his personal name.

[atticus]

letter of intent to do what?

Has the landlord given any reason for not returning the deposit? Are you sure all your obligations under the lease and deposit deed have been complied with? Are you liable for any dilapidations?

If the answers are in your favour, your company can bring a county court claim for repayment.

Others will correct me if I am wrong, but I am not aware of any obligation to 'protect' a deposit relating to a commercial lease. The deposit deed may specify how the money is to be held: compensation for breach is unlikely to exceed the repayment of the deposit and any interest that should have been earned on it i.e. peanuts.

[islandgirl]

Residential and commercial rules are entirely different. If you rent a house the deposit must be protected and there are a raft of other rules with which the LL must comply. Commercial leases do not operate under the same rules and the deposit does not need to be put into a scheme or protected in any way. As per the advice above you need to be sure you were 100% up to date with rent, had complied with all other conditions of the lease and had left the building as you found it (ie no extra rubbish to be thrown away or cleaning to be done). If you still feel that you should get the money back, send a letter before action to the LL telling them you will proceed to court if x amount is not paid by y date. Then it is moneyclaim online.

[dslippy]

I echo the doubts expressed about securing the deposit.
It is worth remembering that the reason for the deposit is the inequality between tenant and landlord. The tenant can always take any judgment from the property let (unless charged to the hilt)..

[lomaximus1]

Hi all thanks for the replies!
Letter was a letter of intent for court action if he did not return the deposit. The rent deed states that the deposit will be “held in a separate secured interest accruing account” I believe it was put in his own personal account last year and he has spent it. There are rumours he has overstretched himself. Rent has always been paid on time and no representation of Dilapidations has been sent to me. The unit was left in better condition as it was a wreck when we took it on. I had detailed photographs and notes of the state of disrepair of the unit done before I took the unit on and after we vacated the unit. The unit was re rented to another company within a week of me moving my company out. No work was carried out on the unit before the new tenant moved in.

[dslippy]

He is inviting you to sue. It is worth it as much as anything because you can probably claim against the rent now being paid.

[islandgirl]

So off to Moneyclaim online! It is a simple process and you can see what he does next. Just make sure that the letter you sent fulfils the criteria for a Letter Before Action (ie did it tell him exactly what you will do if he does not return the money by a certain date?) If not, send him another quickly which is fully correct and with 7 days to reply. Then you can put both as evidence.

[lomaximus1]

Ok great I’ve got tomorrow off so going to sort it then! Thanks again everyone who replied

[herbythesea]

Hi I have the same issue with my landlord not returning my 6000 deposit still 7 months after our lease expired. I was just windering how you resolved it finally? Many thanks.