Omni Park legal threat to retail tenants

Samantha McCaughren

THE landlord of one of Ireland’s best known shopping centres, Omni Park in Santry, Dublin, has threatened retail tenants with legal action over any unpaid rent and service charges.

In a letter sent last Friday and seen by the Sunday Independent, Omni Park Consortium writes that several tenants had approached them in relation to their lease obligations during the pandemic.

However, the only concession the consortium could offer was “paying your rent and service charges monthly in advance for the current and next quarter to assist you with your cash flow”.

“No other concessions will be granted and legal proceedings will commence where tenants fail to pay their rent and service charges,” the letter continues.

The Omni Park centre is owned by the Dublin building group MKN, which is controlled by the McKeon family and private clients of stockbroker Goodbody.

The letter points retailers to Government support by providing a website link.

It also said the landlord had been working hard to reduce the services charge budget for the rest of the year and had found savings of 30pc. This would be passed on to tenants.

It added that “news reports were indicating that the spread of the pandemic was coming under control” and that it hoped the restrictions would be lifted gradually next month.

One retail executive who works for a well known European chain which has several outlets in Ireland said it was the only such letter it had received from a landlord in Ireland or the UK.

Retail Excellence, which represents hundreds of retailers, described the letter as appalling and said it would be raising the matter at a senior Government level.

The body has proposed a scheme which would see the Government pay 60pc of commercial rents, tenants pay 20pc and landlords absorb the remaining 20pc.

Efforts to contact the Omni Park Consortium, MKN and its agents were unsuccessful.

Goodbody had no comment.