Landlord moves to evict Heatons from The Square

Peter Flanagan Commercial Property Editor

Dozens of jobs may be at risk after the biggest landlord of The Square shopping centre in Tallaght moved to evict retailer Heatons from their premises.

In a statement last night, Indego said it had "regrettably been forced to serve a Section 14 notice on Heatons, which, under the terms of the notice, is a demand for payment of all sums due within seven days and failing which the Landlord is entitled to peaceable re-entry or the tenant has to give up possession of the premises".

"The decision to serve notice for payment of outstanding sums or to vacate the premises has been arrived at following refusal by Heatons to pay any rent since September 1st, the cancellation of standing order payments and refusal by it to engage in any meaningful way to find a solution," said the firm.

Indego is a debtor of NAMA and Heatons is understood to have applied for a rent reduction in 2012 under guidelines set out by the state bad bank. Those guidelines mean the tenant has to apply for a rent reduction, and if the landlord agrees to it, they then have to apply to Nama to have that reduction signed off.

According to Indego, the guidelines are "sympathetic and fair to business trading in recessionary times".

"Heatons, however, has chosen not to engage in this process by refusing, amongst other things, to provide audited accounts for the previous three-year period. Whilst the landlord has been trying for more than two years to find a solution outside of the Nama Guidelines," said Indego.

"Heatons has done nothing to mitigate their own position during that time.

Serving an eviction notice is considered highly unusual, but Indego said it remains open to talks. Heatons is one of the biggest tenants in The Square, occupying three units.