SA Self Employed and Verbal Contract - Rent Issue

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Sarah Brown

Member
18 April 2015
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Hi, my partner is a hairdresser and after discussions with her boss she went on to a rental a chair type agreement in Oct 2014. There is no written contract. Verbally they agreed on % that would be received for different services.

Initially, my partner asked her boss about the rent and was advised it was included in the %. A couple of months later the boss' business partner mentioned in passing that my partner needed to be paying rent. My partner told her that the boss had said she didn't, but if she has to then she will but she needs to know how much. The boss' partner said she would speak to the boss.

My partner then spoke to the boss next day and he told her he would work it out. Nothing further was said or discussed.

On Thursday 16/4, my partner received a call from the boss' partner asking if she had received their invoices for rent, that she had been sending to her personal email. My partner hadn't received any so the boss partner said she had been sending since Feb and would forward again.

We admit the original email may have gone to the junk mail, and been auto deleted.

The email received showed the initial email to my partner had actually been sent on the 12/3/15, and included monthly rent invoices back to Nov 2014.

My question is, are we within our rights to only pay the rent from the date of the email received? Do we even need to pay it as their was no discussion or written agreement of the rental cost? Or would we be required to pay the rent back from Nov 2014 under contract law or employment law?

Any assistance or information you can give would be appreciated. Or any advice/info numbers would be appreciated also.

Thank you
 

Rod

Lawyer
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27 May 2014
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Do not pay any back rent at the moment.

Your partner has a verbal agreement that says rent is included in the % take. Document the verbal agreement, including anything about how long the agreement was to run, and send it to the boss and wait to see the response.

It may come down to whether or not your partner wants to continue working there if the boss wants to now have your partner paying rent. If you insist on not paying rent, and they insist rent now needs to be paid, be prepared to leave if things go pear shaped. Else the pay rent.