Landlord and tenant relationships are not always 100% on the good side. If you are a landlord, you would not always see eye to eye with all of your tenants, most especially if you have a lot of properties or rooms you are leasing out to and you are dealing with different types of people with different personalities. The same goes if you are a tenant, you would not always agree with the rules, regulations and policies of your landlord, so there could be times that you would actually be in disagreements and misunderstandings. Sometimes, it would not escalate to more serious matters, but there could be times that it would. When treading with disagreements of some sort, both parties should be careful in dealing with each other because a legal contract is present that is protecting either of the parties. In such a case, it is better to seek the professional and legal advice of landlord and tenant solicitors to help both parties in dealing with the proper compromise with regards to their current dispute with each other.
Hidden Charges by the Landlord
One of the most common causes of disputes between landlords and tenants is well because of money. Most cases happen because landlords suddenly charge their tenants other charges not openly discussed prior to the signing of the contract. An example would be disputes in the service charge on the final payment tenants need to pay their landlords. Sometimes, landlords would think they could get away with charging their tenants with work done in the property without the consent of their tenants. When this happens, tenants are legally able to seek out advice from solicitors. As a tenant, you should only pay for what is stated in the contract, and as well as other matters you have agreed with and you have full consent over.
Money Matters
As a landlord, it is inevitable that you would experience delinquent paying tenants. They have their own ways to avoid making payments, and if the amount of rent they owe would already be too much that you could handle, that is the time when you could seek the help of solicitors to ease the burden of your case. This is the most important reason why you should always have a contract signed by the tenant, so that you would have something to go after him for should he fail to make his payments on time and in the right amount. There may also be instances wherein tenants would try to sneak their way out of other expenses such as repairs and maintenance expenses, or annual escalations with the rent value. These are some of the things that you need to fully disclose at the beginning of the lease term and it should be present in the contract so that the next time you seek for a solicitor’s advice, you have evidence to help strengthen your claims.
Lease Extensions
In some cases wherein you have a good standing relationship as landlords and tenants, and you would like to extend the term on your lease, you could also seek for the help of a solicitor to help you with the process. There are legalities in terms of lease extensions because you would base it off of the existing contract where both parties need to be fully disclosed about and sign. Getting the help of a landlord and tenant solicitor would be able to help you in expediting this process in a faster and more professional way.
Right of First Refusal
If you are a landlord who would first like to gauge the financial capabilities, capacities and potential of a potential tenant but is still unsure, you could enter into a contract of right of first refusal with him first to keep his interest in check but at the same time give you a bit of time to consider leasing out your property. Or if you are potential tenant and you would first like to check the foot traffic in a commercial space you are looking into so you are still unsure whether or not you would like to lease it out but would not like to lose it to other possible tenants, then you could also enter into a contract of right of first refusal with the landlord. What this contract serves is the rights of the holder to have an opportunity to enter in a contract lease with the owner of the property, depending on their agreed terms, before the owner could enter into a transaction with a different party. In simple terms, it is like you are getting a security of discussing possible lease terms with the landlord, before he or she could be entitled to entertaining other potential tenants other than yourself.