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Thank you for your replies. No my solicitor never advised me to use an accountant. I was advised that the rent had not been paid. The decision was made that as soon as I transferred the funds for purchasing, that the outstanding rent would be cleared prior to the ex leaseholder receiving the rest. After taking over I then had bailiff's turning up for unpaid rates, unpaid equipment leases, etc. She did even pay the staff's last weeks wages. To be fair to my solicitor I was a bit keen to rush the purchase through, and I'd rather let sleeping dogs lie. As it is I've had my fingers burnt and learnt my lesson. I have sent a letter to the landlord, basically saying what you suggested. It was sent recorded delivery, and post office tried delivering it yesterday at 5.45 am hehe. So far no response, will keep you guys informed. Thanks again.

I used a solicitor, but there was no books as the cafe had only been running for 10 months. I was stupid I know, but I was told a lot of lies which I believed. I've learnt my lesson the hard way.

Thank you for your response, I'm preparing to draft my letter now. Lucky (or unlucky depending on how you look at it) for me I don't own a property or have any assets. I suppose it's also unfortunate for the landlord that he hand delivered most of his rent demands by hand during business hours, all correspondence inc. envelopes have been kept. Re: point 4 what sort of length of time should I base loss of earnings on? I'm presuming that he will take me to small claims so is there a max limit of £5,000. The amount does not bother me because I'd rather he just dropped it as I thought I'd put this all behind me. Silly me for feeling content. Thanks.

1. The original lease for for 3 years, I purchased the lease with another 2 years to run. 2. Did not get hassled for previous trader's rent - this was settled as our purchase went through - it was other their debts that we had bailiff's turning up for. 3. No - was two months behind and tried to make an offer of spreading payments on top of current rent. Which was refused. 4. As soon as we owed two months he started threatening us with legal proceedings and bailiffs straight away. He sent legal letters, but no court order. I had already lost our savings so took what equipment was mine before I lost that too and surrendered the lease. I was trading for 3 months only with the new landlord. Hope this is helpful.

Try to keep a long story short. In 2004 I took over a cafe lease (it cost me and my wife all our savings £20,000). Within a month the property was sold to another landlord, so we only have a copy of the lease between the original leasor and the previous landlord. After I took over I discovered that the previous leasor had not paid any rent or business rates, in fact she hadn't paid anything. Not quite sure how our solicitor missed all this! We had bailiffs coming to the premises, the staff had not been paid! And to top it the previous leasor had 'done a runner' with our savings. Of course the business made no money! and we missed the rent, the new landlord kept turning up demanding money, I offered to pay a little extra on the rent to make up the missed payments. But he refused, and started proceedings to force us out. In the end I surrendered the tenancy. Now two years later out of the blue the landlord has sent us a letter demanding the missed rent payments plus £255 interest on top, a total of £2003.78. This is rent I missed, not the previous leasor. I can't understand why he's left it for so long? Plus can he add on an interest charge? I have no copy of any agreement between myself and him. I've been ill since this all happended and on disability benefits so I don't have this kind of money. I now have seven days to respond, any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.