Page 513 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 20 February 1991
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have been out there, of course, as Mr Moore seems to know; I inspected the premises myself last week, with the Community Service people. I have examined problems that have arisen there in relation to the tenure of the Community Service because, on my information, the landlord has been approached by an alternative tenant, the Westpac Banking Corporation. Perhaps Mr Moore got the tip from them; I am not sure.
I see the potentiality for there to be a rent increase; it could well be on the cards, but not in the short term. Given its commercial frontage, we could be into two-yearly rent reviews. It is a matter that my colleague Mr Humphries and I are looking at right now. We discussed it several times this week. I discussed it with my ministerial staff before I came into the chamber. I can assure Helen Szuty and the staff of her service that I have gone to considerable lengths to see what we can do. There may be a solution for her, but she certainly has tenure there at the moment and there is no threat to move her out.
There is a sublease for the premises which expires on 28 February - this month. I understand that there was an option to renew; but, as fortune has it, that option may well have locked us into a considerably higher commercial rental. I am assured by my colleague Mr Humphries, who is bearing the cost of these relocations from his education budget, that a solution to that situation will be reached, hopefully in the next few days. We are looking broadly at other issues that may result in a situation that would be most acceptable to the Weston Creek Community Service.
MR MOORE: I ask a supplementary question. Mr Collaery, you indicated to me that we are talking about roughly $50,000 a year, but you later indicated that in fact you were about to have to renegotiate this lease. So I will be interested to understand what you expect the cost to be. Also, the part of the question that you did not answer was: How does the cost compare with what was being paid before?
MR COLLAERY: The office has moved into a Brierly Street frontage which has a corner glass frontage that has never been leased since the building was built a couple of years ago. On my advice, the landlord has received a much more attractive offer from Westpac, who are interested in the premises for opening a branch or the like, and the real issue at hand is whether we will have tenure there, not whether we will be able to renegotiate another lease. I would imagine that, if we have to renegotiate another lease, we would be asked to take the entire block - that is, to take double the space that we are presently occupying - and that would obviously, ergo, double the rent as it stands.
But, as rent escalations go in this town, if there is to be a sublease increase, whether CPI based or 10 per cent, whichever is the lesser, you would see the rent going up by a minimum of, by last year's CPI, 6.9 per cent. But they are speculative comments for Mr Moore.
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