This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
THE Supreme Court of Victoria has ordered polls Roy Morgan Research pay Impact Investment Group, a company backed by the Libermans, over $730,000 in rental arrears following a tenancy dispute at 401 Collins St.
Although Justice Sloss found in favour of IIG, which succeeded in a majority of its claims, the Judge criticised both parties for their conduct and said they could have run the litigation in a more efficient way.
The legal action comes after Roy Morgan did not pay the rent because it disputed the cost of refurbishments.
This led IIG to lock out the tenant on December 21, prompting Roy Morgan to launch emergency legal action to gain entry into the 401 Collins St, which has been Roy Morgan’s headquarters for over 20 years.
IIG is owned by Chris Lock (CEO) and Small Giants, which is backed by Daniel Almagor and Berry Liberman.
Roy Morgan sold 401 Collins St in 2014 for $32 million and leaseback the office building for 10-years.
The Court found that IIG has complied with all of its obligations under the lease and that the lease remains on foot with eight years remaining.
CEO Chris Lock welcomed the ruling.
“We welcome the court’s ruling. We purchased the property for $32 million in 2014 and negotiated a 10-year lease back of the building by Roy Morgan Research, directly with Mr Gary Morgan.
“It is disappointing that a mere 18 months into this lease, our tenant unilaterally decided not to honour its rental obligations.
“Our decision to purchase the property was based on the long term lease to Roy Morgan Research, which was to provide our co-investors with a secure income stream via their investment in the IIG 401 Collins Trust.
“We have acted in a determined way to protect this investment on behalf of our co-investors. We now look forward to refocusing our attention on delivering our intended upgrades at the property in line with our impact investment thesis,”
A decision on costs has been deferred to a hearing set for 19 May.
Australian Property Journal
