Businesswoman owed £15k to landlord after not reading small print | Personal Finance | Finance

Faye Finaro, a 40 year old businesswoman, was dealt a hefty blow when she had to fork out £15k due to misreading the small print of her office lease, causing her start-up to collapse. Back in 2016, Faye was on the hunt for her first office space for her new company. When she found an ideal location in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, she said she felt “pressured” to sign the 20-page contract there and then, and said was offered a discount as incentive.

Alongside her then-business partner, Faye signed the tenancy agreement for the commercial premises without reading it in detail and got the keys the same day. Shortly after signing, Faye and her business partner realised the office had no internet, and they couldn’t access the server room to have it installed. They were using Wireless dongles but said it was ‘impossible’ to work without proper Wi-Fi.

“We tried to tell them that we needed to go away and think about it before agreeing. But they started adding extras to help us make a flash decision and, in the end, we signed on the spot,” Faye said.

“The same week we realised there was no internet, or access to the server to install it; that wasn’t mentioned in the agreement – they just omitted it.”

In April, after only four months, they handed in their notice and moved out in the July. However, shortly after they began receiving letters demanding unpaid rent.

It was then that they were informed there were 11 months remaining on their break clause – equating to £13,200 – plus an additional £1,800 in interest.

When they declined to pay, the landlord took them to a small claims court where they lost their case. In January 2017, they were summoned to Mansfield Magistrates’ and County Court. Following the court case they were instructed to settle the outstanding amount as they had signed the contract.

Faye says her personal credit rating was severely damaged for several years following the incident, leading to the closure of her business.

Faye said: “It was a huge setback and impacted how our business started; because of the default on my credit file, it led to the downfall of the business. “We couldn’t access funding because the bank lenders saw me as too high risk.”

In 2023, she kick-started her new venture, SOSBeauty, on a tight budget, securing investments from friends.

Now, Faye, as CEO, has partnered with Adobe to share her journey, highlighting how their Adobe Acrobat AI Assistant can simplify the process of identifying fine print in contracts.

She said she’s been able to build a “powerhouse” out of her new business and has since fully restored her high credit rating, but she still looks back on the “horrific” period of her life.

Michi Alexander, at Adobe, said: “Faye’s story is more common than you’d think – 65 per cent of business leaders admit to signing contracts they don’t fully grasp.

“We’re using AI to make contracts clearer, easier to compare and understand, with verified answers and built-in data security.”

Faye added: “I’d advise someone else – don’t be scared to ask questions, and to ask for help. Don’t put too much trust in landlords that have their own interests at heart – get other tenants’ opinions too.”

“The Adobe software would have been really useful when I was on the spot there,” she added.

“I often check legal things using Chat GPT but you still need to use the right prompts to get the right information, so if you don’t know what to ask, it’s hard. So, if I’d had something like that in which was specifically tailored to contracts, we would have been able to check.”