GAME loses £3 million rent appeal
Supreme Court rules retailer has to pay debts
UK retailer The Game Group has lost an appeal over unpaid rent stemming from its administration in 2012.
The Times reported that the retailer owed £3 million in unpaid rent to British Land, Intu, Hammerson and Land Securities but had appealed the debt on a legal loophole. That loophole, which related to companies in administration, can now be considered closed.
"It ends the limbo period created by the threatened appeal with landlords waiting to receive unpaid back rents and administrators not sure whether to pay when the law was up in the air," said Mathew Ditchburn, of law firm Hogan Lovells.
In May the Oxford St GAME, the company's flagship store, was nearly forced to close after owner Lazari GP threatened to evict the retailer over a debt of £100,000. The store eventually closed in August when the company's lease on the premises expired.