Commercial/business tenant rights

The Devil

A friend of mine (not me) has a small (one man) low-turnover business and has been renting the same office space since he went into business for himself about 9 years ago.
He has never had a lease and his rent has been low (circa €1000 per month) up to now.
His original landlord died almost 5 years ago and since that time the landlord's widow has taken over, with no affect to the rent or conditions. Basically the ad hoc situation continued as before.

However, things have become complicated lately:
Last week he received a call from an auctioneer saying that he would be visiting on the landlady's behalf to "have a look around" the following day. The guy turned up, had a look around, took some measurements and left.
Two days later a letter arrived from the auctioneer stating that the rent would be increasing to €3200 per month (which is probably market value) and that he must now sign a lease.
A 10 day deadline to sign the lease was mentioned.
A lease term of 4 years and 9 months was also mentioned.

So, what are his rights in this situation;
Is he entitled to a longer term lease?
Can he negotiate the cost?
Is he entitled to sub-let to help pay the rent if there is no movement on the cost (he does not use all the space)?
What happens if he does not sign the lease within the 10 days?

I have advised him to contact a solicitor ASAP, but can any of you learned persons offer some advise/answers to immediately assuage his fears?

Also, I have been checking out oasis.gov.ie but it only seems to concentrate on residential tenancies, can someone point me in the direction of some online info or the relevant act in the statute book?

Thanks in advance.

Samson

Landlord and Tenant Act 1980:
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/ZZA10Y1980.html

dermot_sheehan

The Devil wrote:

A friend of mine (not me) has a small (one man) low-turnover business and has been renting the same office space since he went into business for himself about 9 years ago.
He has never had a lease and his rent has been low (circa €1000 per month) up to now.
His original landlord died almost 5 years ago and since that time the landlord's widow has taken over, with no affect to the rent or conditions. Basically the ad hoc situation continued as before.

However, things have become complicated lately:
Last week he received a call from an auctioneer saying that he would be visiting on the landlady's behalf to "have a look around" the following day. The guy turned up, had a look around, took some measurements and left.
Two days later a letter arrived from the auctioneer stating that the rent would be increasing to €3200 per month (which is probably market value) and that he must now sign a lease.
A 10 day deadline to sign the lease was mentioned.
A lease term of 4 years and 9 months was also mentioned.

So, what are his rights in this situation;
Is he entitled to a longer term lease?
Can he negotiate the cost?
Is he entitled to sub-let to help pay the rent if there is no movement on the cost (he does not use all the space)?
What happens if he does not sign the lease within the 10 days?

I have advised him to contact a solicitor ASAP, but can any of you learned persons offer some advise/answers to immediately assuage his fears?

Also, I have been checking out oasis.gov.ie but it only seems to concentrate on residential tenancies, can someone point me in the direction of some online info or the relevant act in the statute book?

Thanks in advance.

Asking for legal advice here is bad. The giving of legal advice in this country can only be done by qualified solicitors/barristers, and in any case there is the risk you could sue the giver of the advice for negligent misstatement.

Asking for people's opinions about a hypothetical legal problem though is perfectly acceptable

hullaballoo

Gabhain has pretty much said all that needs to be said on this matter. Thread locked.