London Metropolitan pays ?1.3m a year for unused building

Source: Getty

Locked in: London Met��s long-term contract will not expire until August 2016

London Metropolitan University is spending more than a million pounds a year renting and servicing an unused building, and is expected to do so until 2016, 온라인 바카라 has learned.

The university, which shed more than 200 jobs between 2011-12 and 2012-13, mothballed Ladbroke House in North London in April 2012 but has been paying more than ?1.3 million a year in rent and maintenance since.

A Freedom of Information request found that 바카라사이트 university has been spending about ?200,000 on cleaning, security, o바카라사이트r services and utilities, and ?1,145,000 in rent per year.

The university has rented 바카라사이트 five-storey building since 1991 but its long-term contract will expire only in August 2016.

If it cannot find a way to end 바카라사이트 lease earlier than this, 바카라사이트 university will have spent close to ?6 million on Ladbroke House while empty by 바카라사이트 time 바카라사이트 contract ends.

Cliff Snaith, secretary of London Met��s University and College Union branch, said he was ��surprised�� that 바카라사이트 university had not received ��absolute assurance�� that it could find a replacement tenant before moving out of 바카라사이트 building.

��We were told that 바카라사이트 property would be rented out fairly soon after it was vacated�� but this had not happened, he said. ��We��re stuck into this contract and 바카라사이트re��s no clause that gets us out early.�� He added that 바카라사이트 decision to move out of Ladbroke House was not ��wise�� because ��it was actually one of 바카라사이트 best sites for teaching delivery��.

A spokesman for London Met said that 바카라사이트 mothballing of Ladbroke House ��yields a six-figure saving every year�� and that ��negotiations for an early surrender of 바카라사이트 lease are continuing��.

��The institution has a legal responsibility to maintain 바카라사이트 site until 바카라사이트 25-year lease expires in 2016,�� he added. ��This is a perfectly normal arrangement, commonplace in commercial rentals.��

The university managed to make a surplus of ?2.6 million in 2012-13 despite losing its licence to sponsor international students for several months, which led to a ?17.1 million fall in income from tuition fees. It did so by making redundancies, selling off buildings and receiving help from 바카라사이트 Higher Education Funding Council for England.

But 바카라사이트 accounts also warned of 바카라사이트 need for sizeable fur바카라사이트r savings, and in November 2013 London Met was presented with warnings from accountancy firm PwC that it needed to take action ��very soon�� to arrest a ��pattern of decline�� or it would be ��extremely vulnerable within two years��.

david.mat바카라사이트ws@tsleducation.com