Business lease terminated early due to Landlord stealing electricity. Landlord is now suing, Advice needed.
I rented a shop and signed a five year lease. During lockdown it emerged that I was paying for the electricity for the entire building. Landlord said that there were two meters, and I should have been giving him the readings so he could pay.
I got the reading and calculated what he owed me, it was £4000. He agreed to pay it the next day. (All this was done on email.)
The next day he paid me £600 then didn't pay me anything else. Every month the electric bill was being paid by me, and I was telling him the amount he needed to pay. He stopped communicating with me completely.
I sent him an email saying that I couldn't keep paying for the whole building's electricity supply and that if he didn't reimburse me by a date two months from that email I would leave. I had no response from him.
Two months later I moved out. The next day he emailed, saying I was liable for the balance of the contract, and that he would take me to court.
Now he has done so. What do I need to do? Should I get a solicitor? Does he have a good case against me? Any help would be greatly appreciated as I'm in way over my head and I don't know where to start.
Posted May 19, 2022, 6:27 PM UTC
He does have a valid case against you because you have a contract, the lease and the electricity are two separate issues legally. You can however counterclaim against him for what he owes you, if you both "win", if one of you owes less than the other the lower amount should be deducted from the final total that the other person owes.