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Friday, January 23, 2015

To Lease Or Not To Lease

 
Machiavelli considers the lease situation:
 
I have read with great interest postings on social media sites regarding the position of any "occupation" of the Edgar Street Stadium following yesterday's Herefordshire Council's cabinet meeting at which a decision was taken which effectively leaves everyone in no man's land.
 
Hopefully this brief piece will assist those who are not sure what all the fuss is about and bring clarity to those who think they know but aren't quite so sure.
 
Any lease that is contracted outside the security of tenure provisions of the Landlord and Tenant Act renders any realistic hope of securing a meaningful football club dead.
 
It would seem from yesterday's meeting of the Council that the officers are only permitted to negotiate a lease of 3-5 years maximum and they will require exclusion from Section 24 -28 of the Act — simply put, this would result in a fixed term letting with no requirement on the Council to renew or compensate Hereford FC for all their hard work and any expenditure.
 
How therefore can the Hale/Trust proposal of Hereford F.C. move forward , after all it wouldn't be morally right for this new Club to offer shares to both the Supporters Trust and directly to the supporters as well as taking investment/start-up capital from a number of individuals with no guarantee of a lease extension. Sadly any promises from the current crop of Councillors are meaningless in the dirty world of politics!
 
It would appear that this Council like so many others around the Country are severely financially challenged and it would not be unreasonable to suggest that if they were skint at the time the initial lease expired at renewal and there were no elections looming they could turf off Hereford F.C. and sell the ground.
 
It is worth noting that even if the lease were contracted in to the act they could object to any renewal on section 30 grounds which cover for example redevelopment.
 
The stadium is generally acknowledged as being in a poor state of repair and requiring some essential repair works , clearly the Council have a duty to look after all public assets and they should not expect this new Club to take on all the liability for its current state, so how therefore could they suggest only letting this property for a few years having spent public money to deal with the lack of proper maintenance which under the previous regimes at Edgar Street they could have enforced but choose to look the other way.
 
I suspect that the Council think that a "benefactor" should pick up this bill — I suggest that this is a non-runner, the promise of start-up capital to Hereford F.C. appears to have been made to develop a football club not make good the Council's lack of asset management.
 
The Hale/Trust consortium it seems have brought in a Landlord and Tenant surveyor to assist them in all property matters, what a remarkably sensible move, not something usually associated with the old HUFC — an expert in a relevant discipline , at least Hereford F.C. won't get tucked up and supporters relieved of their money on a false prospectus.
 
If you want Hereford F.C. to become the reality at Edgar Street it needs a lease and a ground which is "fit for purpose", talk of a new stadium and relocation are all well and good and provisions to accommodate these objectives can be drafted into a lease- but first and foremost this phoenix club needs the air to breathe or it is dead before it begins.
 
This council were prepared to grant the Keyte and Nenaditch regime a 30 year lease deal even when they were already in the financial mire and so why not grant a phoenix club a 10 year lease with proper break and recovery clauses. Hereford F.C. it seems has a plan, start-up finance in place and real support, surely the Council are capable of evaluating the Hereford F.C. plan and recognising the value to the community of a football club called Hereford again?
 
Please Herefordshire Council —give it a chance!
 
Machiavelli