Have you ever been threatened with an unfair eviction notice? While most landlords understand standard notice periods and will work with the tenant to come to an amicable arrangement, sometimes landlords don’t follow the rules.
BTLawyers recently represented a client who was served with a notice to evict their commercial license agreement on 19 December 2018. They were given just two weeks to vacate the property on 3 January 2019 due to a claimed breach of agreement. Our client denied any breach of the agreement and denied the landlord’s right to evict them from the premises.
We were immediately instructed to correspond with the landlord’s solicitor. We sought to have the license agreement reinstated and for the eviction date to either be dismissed or pushed back until an agreement could be made.
Unfortunately, the landlord refused and maintained that they would be evicting our client on 3 January.
With the courts closing for the Christmas period on 21 December and not re-opening until 7 January, we had to act fast to resolve the dispute.
We filed an Application to prevent our client from being evicted on 20 December and it was heard on 21 December. His Honour Justice Bradley found in favour of our client on an interim basis. He allowed our client to remain on the premises until the trial could occur and provided directions for further material to be filed and for the matter to proceed to trial in the new year.
This was a great outcome for our client. Not only were they granted an extension on their requirement to vacate; they also did not have to cancel any of their customer bookings or put off staff members at a busy period of year.
The lesson here is to not to be so hasty with issuing termination orders. There are severe consequences when terminating a lease early, especially without notice and without providing sufficient opportunity for the tenant to either remedy the alleged breach or sufficient time to vacate the premises.
If you have any concerns as a landlord regarding a tenant, or if you are a tenant who has received a notice to remedy breach or a termination notice, contact us today for a no obligation initial consultation. Phone (07) 3211 2233 or fill out the enquiry form below and we’ll be in touch.
