Rent unpaid by Ulster-Scots body

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Months of rents are unpaid on a building occupied by the Ulster-Scots Academy Implementation Group.

A property agent has told the BBC its client is owed months in back rent by the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL).

He is responsible for leasing Regent House in Newtownards at an annual rent of £70,000.

DCAL will not comment on the matter but it is known that the then minister, Edwin Poots, was asked to intervene.

He wrote to civil servants asking that the landlord be "treated in an honourable way".

The property was leased to the Scots Academy Implementation Group, which was to oversee the setting-up of an institution to promote the teaching of Ulster-Scots to academic standards, in March 2006.

A spokesman for Commercial Property Solutions said that its client had been acting in good faith when he allowed DCAL civil servants to move into the building before the lease was signed.

He said that at a meeting in February last year, DCAL had stated it was happy with the building and that it wished to extend the lease until June 2010.

"On 29th June 2007, the solicitors acting for DCAL confirmed that the lease terms were finally agreed and were just awaiting signature," a spokesperson for the landlord said.

'Signed'

"DCAL then delayed the signing of the lease and the payment of rent. The first rent the landlord received from DCAL was on 8 August 2007, over 11 months after they moved into the building.

"They have since further delayed and withheld rent," he added.

"We can confirm that the tenants have vacated the premises and they are still in arrears of rent.

"The agreed lease for the premises is due to expire on 30 June 2010. DCAL are responsible for the rent until 30 June 2010."

The spokesperson added that the landlord had sought a personal meeting with the former DCAL minister Edwin Poots.

"This matter has put a considerable personal and financial strain on the landlord and in desperation he wrote on several occasions to Mr Poots requesting a meeting, to no avail."

DCAL said it would not comment on the matter because it is the subject of ongoing legal discussions.

In a statement, the former DCAL minister Edwin Poots said he had responded to letters he received from the landlord.The building is occupied by the Ulster-Scots Academy Implementation Group

"In those letters, I made clear that it was my wish that he was treated honourably and that I had always expressed that wish to DCAL servants in respect of this."

Last week, the BBC revealed that the Ulster-Scots Academy project had reached an impasse, with DCAL formally closing down the secretariat it had set up to aid the Implementation Group.

Despite £12m being set aside for the project in 2003, it is understood that little progress has been made towards its establishment.

Sources blamed scholarly arguments and a poor working relationship between a DCAL civil servant and the chairman of the Implementation Group, Dr Philip Robinson, for the failure to make headway.

In a scathing report seen by the BBC, the civil servant detailed how he believed mistakes had been made in the renting of Regent House.

Listed

The report said that it had been wrong to allow Dr Robinson to negotiate himself the lease for the 6,500 square foot, Grade Two listed building.

It went on to say that the building was unsuitable for the use of the secretariat because it was damp in places and did not have suitable disabled access.

Dr Robinson said in a written response that he had been given full departmental authority to negotiate the lease himself.

He admitted that the building was in breach of disability discrimination but that the changes required were actually quite modest.