Licensee wins back £7,000 owed to her by pubco

A licensee owed nearly £7,000 by her pubco has finally had the money returned after a year of disputes.

Sheila Lennox-Boyd sold the Brunel in Saltash, Cornwall in July 2007, but was made to pay £6,830 as a temporary delapse payment by landlord Scottish & Newcastle Pub Enterprises (S&NPE) to ensure necessary repairs to the building were carried out.

She had already dropped the price of the business by £4,000 to give the new lessee the money needed to complete the work, but the pubco took the payment to ensure that the damage she was liable for was repaired.

Only now, after an inquiry by The Publican​, has Sheila had that money returned.

"I'm not happy" said Sheila, who now runs the Ploughboy in Saltash. "It's just not fair to hold the money for so long. With the current climate as it is, I could have gone under."

When she initially contacted S&NPE in October 2007 to ask for the money to be returned she was told that the work was yet to be completed.

But Sheila insists that the repairs were finished at that time - three months after the sale was finalised.

A week after The Publican​ contacted S&NPE the money was returned but Sheila is still furious about the delay.

Refurbishment work at the Ploughboy has had to be halted due to a lack of money and she has also been forced to borrow money to cover bills.

"I have been the one that has lost out all the way through this", she said.

A S&NPE spokeswoman said: "S&NPE took a delapse payment from Sheila Lennox-Boyd with the agreement she would get that money back when the ingoing tenant had done the work. We have only recently been informed that the work has been completed."