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Background:
I’m a commercial tenant of a shop, the landlord has tenants in a flat above.
About 7 months ago the landlord instructed a company to carry out some upgrade work in the building. Some electrical stuff was installed which is shared by myself and their residential tenants above. According to my lease, costs in relation to shared service media should be calculated based on a fair proportion determined by the percentage of the building occupy. I occupy about 50% of the building.
Prior to the work commencing the company sent an estimate/ breakdown of costs to myself and the managing agents. The managing agents asked the company to decide the allocation of costs without informing them of details of how this should be done. The company allocated only 10% of the costs to the landlord and the remaining 90% of the costs to my business - around £400 to the landlord and around £4000 to my business. I raised a query about this with the landlords agents and pointed out that I was being charged 90% of the cost which was incorrect based on the terms of my lease. At first my query was ignored. I chased the managing agents and they kept dodging my calls/ignoring my messages. I sent them pages from my lease which specifies the instruction. When I took on the property I had a solicitor negotiate this lease and they were explicit when explaining every aspect of it.
Due to scheduling constraints the work had to be carried out quite quickly and was carried out despite me disputing that I am liable for majority of the cost. Once the work was completed I was sent a final invoice still with me being charged 90% of the costs. I told the company that as I had pointed out prior to the work commencing, the amount allocated to my business was incorrect. I asked them to contact the managing agents for the correct calculations. The company started levelling all sorts of accusations at me claiming I did not want to pay, that I was dodgy that they did me an favour annd was ungrateful etc. I have always been willing to pay (what I owe), I know under the terms of my lease that I am required to make a contribution to certain repair and upgrade costs and don’t dispute that. They refused to go back to agents because they said they did not want to interfere with landlord/tenant disputes. This company has worked with my landlord for years and gets good business from them, they are reluctant to rock the boat in that regard. The company requested that I pay them the amount they requested and deduct the excess from my rent, without a written agreement from my landlord I fear this would put me in breach of my lease covenants.
Current situation
As I mentioned this has been going on for about 7 months. I have now received a Money claims from the company for the disputed invoice and I’m unsure of how to proceed. No letter before action letter was sent. I acknowledge that I do owe a debt but I dispute what I have been charged on the invoice by this company. Is this a case I can defend? From what I’ve read in the forum I can file an acknowledgement of service which would give me a further 14 days to get my head around things.
I’m a commercial tenant of a shop, the landlord has tenants in a flat above.
About 7 months ago the landlord instructed a company to carry out some upgrade work in the building. Some electrical stuff was installed which is shared by myself and their residential tenants above. According to my lease, costs in relation to shared service media should be calculated based on a fair proportion determined by the percentage of the building occupy. I occupy about 50% of the building.
Prior to the work commencing the company sent an estimate/ breakdown of costs to myself and the managing agents. The managing agents asked the company to decide the allocation of costs without informing them of details of how this should be done. The company allocated only 10% of the costs to the landlord and the remaining 90% of the costs to my business - around £400 to the landlord and around £4000 to my business. I raised a query about this with the landlords agents and pointed out that I was being charged 90% of the cost which was incorrect based on the terms of my lease. At first my query was ignored. I chased the managing agents and they kept dodging my calls/ignoring my messages. I sent them pages from my lease which specifies the instruction. When I took on the property I had a solicitor negotiate this lease and they were explicit when explaining every aspect of it.
Due to scheduling constraints the work had to be carried out quite quickly and was carried out despite me disputing that I am liable for majority of the cost. Once the work was completed I was sent a final invoice still with me being charged 90% of the costs. I told the company that as I had pointed out prior to the work commencing, the amount allocated to my business was incorrect. I asked them to contact the managing agents for the correct calculations. The company started levelling all sorts of accusations at me claiming I did not want to pay, that I was dodgy that they did me an favour annd was ungrateful etc. I have always been willing to pay (what I owe), I know under the terms of my lease that I am required to make a contribution to certain repair and upgrade costs and don’t dispute that. They refused to go back to agents because they said they did not want to interfere with landlord/tenant disputes. This company has worked with my landlord for years and gets good business from them, they are reluctant to rock the boat in that regard. The company requested that I pay them the amount they requested and deduct the excess from my rent, without a written agreement from my landlord I fear this would put me in breach of my lease covenants.
Current situation
As I mentioned this has been going on for about 7 months. I have now received a Money claims from the company for the disputed invoice and I’m unsure of how to proceed. No letter before action letter was sent. I acknowledge that I do owe a debt but I dispute what I have been charged on the invoice by this company. Is this a case I can defend? From what I’ve read in the forum I can file an acknowledgement of service which would give me a further 14 days to get my head around things.
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