Cricketers rocked by 165,000pc rent rise

A YORKSHIRE cricket club with a history dating back more than 100 years faces being evicted from its picturesque ground unless it finds £57,000 in back-rent within days and the means to pay an annual rent increase of 165,000 per cent.
By The Newsroom
Published 17th Aug 2010, 01:03 BST
Updated 17th Aug 2010, 01:03 BST

Barkisland Cricket Club, which has three senior teams and six junior teams in the Pennine village near Ripponden, faces being disbanded unless it reaches a new agreement with its landlord.

It last paid a peppercorn rent of 5 in 2003 but a new lease agreement proposed after a lengthy wrangle is seeking an annual payment of 8,250 in line with the site's commercial value.

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Club chairman Steve Casaru said: "After several years of unsuccessful negotiations, the club has been threatened with a 21-day eviction order unless we agree to a new lease and an initial payment of 57,000 (to cover seven years' back-rent)."

Law firm Chadwick Lawrence, which is acting for the landlords, said the problems could be traced back to a legal blunder in about 2003 when the original lease ran out and the club failed to apply for a new one within the time limit. In consequence, the club no longer had any rights to renew its lease.

"The owners have no wish to see the village deprived of the cricket club which they acknowledge has a useful and valuable role to play in the local community.

"However, they do wish to ensure the club's continued use of the site is placed on a formal and legal footing which includes payment of a commercial rent.''

Local people are being urged to attend an emergency meeting on Friday at the club at 7pm to discuss the situation.

Related topics:Yorkshire