40 year lease?!

PulpitNeil

Hi,

My girlfriend and I are about to move in to our first flat together, and we had agreed in advance with the landlord to a 12 month lease. However, he has sent us a copy of the lease and it's for the period of 40 years (:eek:), with a "review of rent" every 12 months, whereby we negotiate a new rental rate for the following 12 month period. If we can't agree on a rental rate, the lease is terminated.

Now, the landlord is a barrister and I am worried that the 40 year lease idea is just a way for him to legally retain our deposit when we leave (because we haven't served the full 40 year lease term), or possibly to deny us a part 4 residency if we should decide to stay there on a rolling basis.

Any thoughts? We're due to move in on Monday and would appreciate any advice.

Thanks,
-Neil

Zamboni

Ring him and tell him the lease is wrong.

PulpitNeil

Update on this:

I rang the letting agent and she assured me that I would be entitled to my deposit back should we decide to end the lease after 12 months and that she would get this in writing from the landlord. She would also ask him about how it affected our part 4 rights and get back to me.

She phoned back an hour later telling me that the landlord had changed his mind and would no longer let out the apartment to us. He didn't give any reason whatsoever. She was very apologetic and assured me that we will get our deposit back on Monday, as it hasn't been passed to the LL yet.

Are landlords like this a common breed? Unwilling to let a property (that's been vacant for months) to tenants who ask questions about the lease?

I wish I could name and shame. Is that allowed on this forum?

needadvi

Sounds strange!

BostonB

Sounds like you've had a lucky escape tbh.

PulpitNeil

Yeah that's what I was thinking... Ah, well. Back to Daft I go.

RATM

Lucky escape indeed. Sounds like the landlord was using his legal knowledge to try to shaft you into a 40 year lease. Barristers must be really stuck these days if that's the tricks they're getting up to. I'm also really surprised that the agent will work with them under conditions of a 40 year lease too.

You could make a complaint about him to the Law Society OP, they do generally protect their own but it would ruffle his feathers a bit if someone complained that he entered a verbal contract (which it was at the time), agreed on it and then pulled out at the signing stage.

ShadowHearth

moral of the story - READ THE FECK OUT OF THING YOU SIGN!

bath handle

ShadowHearth wrote: »

are you sure it wasn't meant to be a four year lease? That would make it the same as a part 4 duration.

Treehouse72

PulpitNeil wrote: »

Update on this:

I rang the letting agent and she assured me that I would be entitled to my deposit back should we decide to end the lease after 12 months and that she would get this in writing from the landlord. She would also ask him about how it affected our part 4 rights and get back to me.

She phoned back an hour later telling me that the landlord had changed his mind and would no longer let out the apartment to us. He didn't give any reason whatsoever. She was very apologetic and assured me that we will get our deposit back on Monday, as it hasn't been passed to the LL yet.

Are landlords like this a common breed? Unwilling to let a property (that's been vacant for months) to tenants who ask questions about the lease?

I wish I could name and shame. Is that allowed on this forum?

Wow, that is extraordinary. The guy was clearly busted pulling a fast one.

And people making comments about barristers should be aware that it is these days an almost entirely fake prestige job. The vast majority of barristers earn shag all and get by on family money and whatnot, but do it just for the kudos of being a barrister. So a barrister thinking ahead 12 months to pocketing €1,000 doesn't surprise me hugely.