Love some tenants thought process

Ok this is for a commercial property but still applicable in residential. Two tenants under individual names on a fixed term lease are in significant arrears (over 3 months) and the property manager has only just followed them up. Appears one tenant was paying the rent albeit sporadically and the other was paying nothing.

So the tenant that is paying has found a solicitor to forward this request to the landlord:

"As the tenants are in common and my client is making his contribution under the terms of the lease, the landlord is not to effect a termination of lease but rather allow my tenant quite enjoyment of the premises. It is up the landlord to secure rental from the other party.

My client will continue to make his contributions when he is able to so so."

If this was my responsibility they would have been locked out weeks ago.

 

Can't pay rent except haphazard and short...........but can afford to get a solicitor to send a letter. Does not make sense.......
However that letter does fall well short of what I would expect from any "real" solicitor. Sounds like absolute garbage to me also.

 

@Chilliblue It might be a stupid question - what does the lease say? Tenants are jointly and severally liable for the payment of rent, the issue is not with one tenant or the other it is with the partnership (ie both tenants). If one puts the tenancy in jeopardy, it puts it into jeopardy for both tenants.

Will the tenant who is paying half of the rent expect to pay only half the rent if the other person disappears? (or would the lessor expect to receive the entire amount)??

How was the rent being paid previously? Was it two separate deposits or one deposit?

It is the rent which is in arrears which is a default - the lease generally does not separate or define the rent paid by party A and party B but as 'rent'.

 

Yes that was my thought too. If in personal names under a single lease, then they would be jointly and severally liable for full rent

 

Dear ****** solicitor,
Is this really your professional legal opinion? The humour of it brighted my day.
But thanks for the confirmation that the tenants apparently have an entitlement attitude and that I'm unlikely to ever receive the rent owed via reasonable discussions. I'll be commencing eviction actions and formal debt collection immediately.
With all sincerity, get stuffed.
Landlord.

 

Over 3 months?
Sounds like time for a new PM.

 

I didn't know you had this sort of thing in you Peter, carry on!

 

This is a property that was just passed over to me. The lease clearly states that both tenant are jointly and severally liable for the payment of rent and that all cost associated with compliance to the lease is payable by the tenants.

Thank god the lease was well written.

The background is that one tenant was paying the other who in turn was to pay the full amount to the landlord but never did.

What is scary is the legal reply was from a large mid tier Sydney firm who expected that his client could remain in situ and thought that it was the landlords responsibility to chase the other party for the rent.

I took @Peter_Tersteeg approach and am affecting an unannounced Notice of Termination via re entry tonight and claim the bond. Decent response don't you think?

 

Been working late and I'm fairly stressed. I'm not in the mood for BS right now.

Fortuantely I think I'm through the worst of it and looking forward to the long weekend.

 

Im thinking .... The bloodsucking Lawyer would of no doubt probaly asked for his money first before he sent the letter ?? ...what would it have cost ? $400-500 to send that letter?

 

Seeing that it was sent by a partner with another partner and two para legals you may be spot on the cost to the tenant @Darlinghurst Boy

 

Well that shows how standards have fallen, I thought it was so poorly written and unreasonable that it must have been a written by a mate for free..........

 

Three months is ridiculous. Def time for a new PM.

I love how the tenant can afford a lawyer but not the rent!

Seriously rubbish 'legal' advice!

 

I am amazed that any laywer would put their name to that. It makes you wonder if it is a genuine letter or a complete fake. If its not fake they they all need to go back to law school. Pretty basic principles.

 

Sadly it's often not a question of who's right or wrong, it's what you're willing to spend time and money defending. In this case though, I suspect the tenant has wasted their money on the solicitor. A little push back and it's them who'll run for it.

Last week we had a letter from a solicitor about a couple of posts on this forum stating those posts were false. I'm fairly certain my posts weren't false, but I really can't be stuffed employing a lawyer to even respond, so the moderators took those offending posts down.

 

Ba ha ha ha

But on a serious note, that is the response it deserves, I think someone may be impersonating a solicitor, or they found a real cheap nong

 

The solicitor was a real partner in a mid tier Sydney firm that has several practises @dabbler . That is the scary bit.

You cannot argue with illogical people so the result of last nights lock out will be interesting.

 

Maybe that's what you get for mates rates.

 

A partner ? what have they got him on, a 30k salary ? lol These days there are no shortage of idiots in many professions