21st Jan 2025 (17 days ago)
The Land Lord is a Crook & a Lier!
I was selling my business PRINCESS BEAUTY to a buyer whom the landlord agreed to take on as new tenants after myself.
I gave the new tenant access to the shop to move in furniture. On the same day the new tenant was going to sign the lease, they had gotten ahead & due to a language barrier and starting simple renovations in the property without approval. The landlord made this an issue and reason for putting my £20k deal on hold. He found tenants smoking in side the property & changed his mind about them leasing when they started questioning him for putting simple renovations on hold & when landlord confirmed they intended on opening for business within 2 weeks. This did not fall into his plan with the work he had intended to complete for the flat above and he would not have been able to hold them off. He made it mandatory that a planning needed to be signed off by building regs and a whole new ceiling would need to be installed before anything could be done. No references or evidence was provided that these renovation started would pose a fire hazard. I also confirmed with a certified electrician.
(Previously there was flood in the flat above and water was pouring through the entire shop ceiling inc electrics/lights & cracks had propagated. The safety & integrity of the ceiling was already compromised 9months before. The shop could have caught on fire or the ceiling could have fallen on my employees and he failed to repair this. He manipulated the situation with the renovations & made it impossible for me to complete my deal. There was work that needed to completed in the flat above which could not have been done without interrupting the shop floor. The buyer also had waited more than 2.5 months for the lease to start.)
He confirmed that he would start ceiling work himself in 3 months and after the ceiling work was completed I can complete my deal with these new tenants. 3months later, no ceiling work started or planning in place.
Landlord confirmed over phone call when I was trying to clear matters up that he does not like the new tenants and neither did he contact them to inform them of time frame for ceiling work to be completed. At this point I had no hope to complete my business sale because I knew he didn't want them in there. I lost out on marketing, rent and bills for getting and sustaining this deal over the 6month period.
I wanted to get back my belongings inc expensive appliances, furniture, security cam, products, tools etc which I had left behind for the new tenants that were going to buy my business and take on the lease. He bullied his way and never returned my belongings or the tenant's materials they had left in the shop when they started renovations. Before touching my belongings he didn't contact me. I did not leave it behind for him and he was well aware of that. This shows his true intentions as these could have been returned.
I lost alot of money because of this and I am still suffering from the debt I had taken on for this deal. The new tenants also lost out on solicitors fee for the tenancy agreement, materials and contactors paid to start renovation. Money and time was deliberately exhausted by the landlord just so this deal couldn't happen and so he could complete the necessary building work according to his plan which should have been done when the flat above caused damages.
Furthermore due to the landlords decision; Incomplete renovations which he put to halt (referred as damages), not letting the deal to be completed with outstanding building work (referred as loss of rent) Everyone one would have been paid had he cooperated as we even waited for him to complete his building work. I am now having to waste more money to pursue this via small claims court
Major building work was required but the buyers were determined to open for business asap which wouldn't have been possible, and he did not want these new tenants moving in under any circumstances after changing his mind about them & the situation. He ruined our deal and kept our belongings.... Read more