Asked by the Customer on 17-09-2014 15:24:30
Question posted in the Landlord Tenant Law category relating to Gauteng
Question posted in the Landlord Tenant Law category relating to Gauteng
I did sign a 3 year lease on a bussiness property. i am now 8 months in the lease and cannot afford the rent anymore. i did explain the situatiuon in person to the owner but to no avail. i did sign personal sureties. i will have to give up the lease as is simply cannot afford it anymore. What will the consecuinses be for me. The lease is in a CC.
Message from the Attorney
Posted by Att. Patrick on 17-09-2014 18:54:02
Hi there,
Thank you for advising that you signed the lease agreement (as tenant) in the name of your close corporation.
The problem however is that you unfortunately won't be able to use the cancellation provisions of the consumer protection act to help you get out of the lease. If you had signed the lease in your personal capacity, then you could have got out of the lease on 20 business days' notice.
So, as far as I am concerned, the lease is most probably valid.
Has the landlord done anything to breach the terms of the lease agreement? I'm assuming not. Is that correct? If the landlord has done something to breach the lease agreement, then you must immediately put the landlord to terms to remedy failing which you can cancel the lease agreement. The chances that this will work for you is limited...
The only other thing that you can do is to breach the lease agreement, and then help the landlord to find a NEW tenant to take over the lease agreement, so that the landlord doesn't suffer any damages. The landlord has a legal duty to mitigate his damages, so it is very important to limit your exposure to the landlord to assist in finding a suitable tenant who will be willing to take over the lease on the same, or even worse terms!
Obviously with the suretyship the landlord can come after you in your personal capacity. This is problematic for you.
But, what the landlord CAN'T do is to just sit back for the balance of the 2 years 4 months without a tenant, and then claim all of the damages (lost rental) from you.
The landlord needs to also try find a new tenant by himself. He can't delay! He must also give the property to a rental agent to see if the agent can't locate a suitable tenant.
What is very important for you to do is to keep really good records of everyone who is interested in taking over the lease, and also confirm in writing that you have forwarded these details on to the landlord. This will help you with the mitigation of damages argument.
I would also suggest that you take the lease and the suretyship agreement to a lawyer to check over carefully for any loopholes or errors in the documents which you could use to get out of. This is important with the suretyship agreement, because it binds you personally. He might find something that I can't see.
If there is a part of the answer which you need more advice on, or clarity please continue in this same thread instead of opening a new question.
Att. Patrick
Please remember this is a dialog if you have follow up questions please use the REPLY button and ask. If I did not answer the question you thought you were asking, please respond with the specific question you wanted answered. I hope you found my answer helpful, and you have finished asking your questions, please click on the GREEN ACCEPT button in order to mark the question as closed.
Thank you for advising that you signed the lease agreement (as tenant) in the name of your close corporation.
The problem however is that you unfortunately won't be able to use the cancellation provisions of the consumer protection act to help you get out of the lease. If you had signed the lease in your personal capacity, then you could have got out of the lease on 20 business days' notice.
So, as far as I am concerned, the lease is most probably valid.
Has the landlord done anything to breach the terms of the lease agreement? I'm assuming not. Is that correct? If the landlord has done something to breach the lease agreement, then you must immediately put the landlord to terms to remedy failing which you can cancel the lease agreement. The chances that this will work for you is limited...
The only other thing that you can do is to breach the lease agreement, and then help the landlord to find a NEW tenant to take over the lease agreement, so that the landlord doesn't suffer any damages. The landlord has a legal duty to mitigate his damages, so it is very important to limit your exposure to the landlord to assist in finding a suitable tenant who will be willing to take over the lease on the same, or even worse terms!
Obviously with the suretyship the landlord can come after you in your personal capacity. This is problematic for you.
But, what the landlord CAN'T do is to just sit back for the balance of the 2 years 4 months without a tenant, and then claim all of the damages (lost rental) from you.
The landlord needs to also try find a new tenant by himself. He can't delay! He must also give the property to a rental agent to see if the agent can't locate a suitable tenant.
What is very important for you to do is to keep really good records of everyone who is interested in taking over the lease, and also confirm in writing that you have forwarded these details on to the landlord. This will help you with the mitigation of damages argument.
I would also suggest that you take the lease and the suretyship agreement to a lawyer to check over carefully for any loopholes or errors in the documents which you could use to get out of. This is important with the suretyship agreement, because it binds you personally. He might find something that I can't see.
If there is a part of the answer which you need more advice on, or clarity please continue in this same thread instead of opening a new question.
Att. Patrick
Please remember this is a dialog if you have follow up questions please use the REPLY button and ask. If I did not answer the question you thought you were asking, please respond with the specific question you wanted answered. I hope you found my answer helpful, and you have finished asking your questions, please click on the GREEN ACCEPT button in order to mark the question as closed.
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