Landlord not returning bond after finishing the commercial lease

[Sokanamo]

Hi there,
I have paid 2 months bond to landlord by bank cheque when I have started the commercial lease. I have finished the lease when lease term ends and even after a two month he is not returning my bond without any reason. As per my knowledge in commercial property there is no such kind of body like Residential property so definately I cant go to any bond department. And I have paid directly to landlord's company. In my lease documents this bond term clearly mentioned. So please advice me in this matter.

[Tan]

Have you written to the landlord? Write a polite letter giving 10 working days to pay it to you and stating that you will be seeking legal advice on XX date, then pass it on to a lawyer if it is not paid.

[CJ]

I think this is just a normal commercial issue. If he does not pay and does not give a reason for withholding, it is of to court you go.

Sue his ars....

[eri]

expect to get the usual excuses

1. but i haven't been able to get a new tenant yet and i use the new tenant's bond to pay yours back...

2. there was dirt on a lampshade so i used your bond to pay my wife to clean it off

3. the check's coming very soon, very soon......sorry what7s your name again

[Davo36]

Why on earth did you pay a 2 month bond for a commercial lease? No one does that as far as I know.

But as the others say, give him a short period of time to pay and then sue.

[Glenn]

Come on there.
We all know where the money goes.
It does not go to the landlord for goodness sake.
That money is used for the landagent who would have introduced you to the property.
You have no chance what so ever of getting it back.

[Ivan McIntosh]

If they have any money a lawyer's letter will usually do the trick.

As Davo says, no one pays a bond...the most people do is pay two months rent in advance so the agent can get paid their 14-16%. After that, obviously, you don't have to pay rent for the next two months.

Just quietly, in future if you do give a bond of two months, don't pay the last two months of the rent.

[Tan]

Why on earth did you pay a 2 month bond for a commercial lease? No one does that as far as I know.

As Davo says, no one pays a bond

We take bonds in some circumstances - if it is a short term tenant we don't know, or a long term tenant we aren't sure about.
These bonds are generally held in our account, but the large ones are held in a solicitor trust account.

We have recently organised for a long term tenant with a chequered past to pay a relatively large bond to the solicitor's trust account, repayable to them after a certain term if they are good. This suits them as they wouldn't be able to get a tenancy otherwise, and us as we know we are covered. This is a desirable space, so wouldn't have been vacant long if we hadn't accepted that tenant.

[Tan]

Just quietly, in future if you do give a bond of two months, don't pay the last two months of the rent.

You may get away with that in general, especially if it was obvious the space would be left immaculate and you were up to date with payments otherwise - but you could also accrue quite a large amount of fees if the debt was passed quickly to a lawyer for collection, and a bad credit rating if the debt was listed with Baycorp.

[Glenn]

You may get away with that in general, especially if it was obvious the space would be left immaculate and you were up to date with payments otherwise - but you could also accrue quite a large amount of fees if the debt was passed quickly to a lawyer for collection, and a bad credit rating if the debt was listed with Baycorp0.

I lodged a debt on Veda against a commercial tenant a couple of years ago and the tenant really spat the dumby when turned down for some hire purchase.

[Ivan McIntosh]

You may get away with that in general, especially if it was obvious the space would be left immaculate and you were up to date with payments otherwise - but you could also accrue quite a large amount of fees if the debt was passed quickly to a lawyer for collection, and a bad credit rating if the debt was listed with Baycorp.

It does depend on the condition of the place, but if the landlord or landlord's agents are regularly about and knows the place is reasonably ok, and they know they have the bond, I don't think they'd be sending the debt to a lawyer for recovery any time soon.

If the place is obviously going to need remedial work or there is a lot of reinstatement that needs to be done under the lease, then the landlord will be much more touchy about their bond, I agree.