Twitter sued by Crown Estate over alleged unpaid rent at UK HQ | Hacker News Reader

Twitter sued by Crown Estate over alleged unpaid rent at UK HQ

bbc.co.uk

35 pointsrich_sasha10 comments

I do not believe this should settle by mediation for less than the rent owed. If this was a small debt problem, or about individuals I might feel different and I know that runs counter to equality in law, but I think this is scofflaw behaviour.

To me, it's like Musks attempts to avoid statutory obligations in making staff reductions: He needs to be seen to pay all his community, contracted obligations. No ifs, no buts.

> If this was a small debt problem, or about individuals I might feel different...

The King of England v One of the richest men on the planet?

That's "a plague on both their houses" but 75/25 split the crown estate profits go to general exchequer. Sure, French metric tonnes of money fund the royals lifestyles but the London property market is huge. Yuge.

The crown estate belongs to the reigning monarch but it isn't their private property[1]. Income from the crown estate gets remitted to the government in return for the sovereign grant.

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jan/19/cash-and-the...

The crown estate is de facto the state's property, and has been for centuries.

Not the King (of the UK, rather than England, strictly speaking) but the UK state versus Elon Musk.

"The Crown" is the state as represented by the reigning monarch. As such the Crown Estate is land that belongs to the UK as a group of countries, but ultimately represented by King Charles, for now. A few months ago, it was represented by Queen Elizabeth. In time, it will be represented by King Charles' successor.

The King doesn't "own" the land any more than the US President "owns" Air Force One - it belongs to the country and it's just a "work truck" for him while he's in the job.

Allegations of Twitter skipping rent are not new.

This is a bit different on two accounts:

1. Royal estate in the UK is more averse than most to bad publicity and is less likely to be making such a move in thin grounds.

2. Musk is being sued by the British King in his own ("Crown"!) court. Good luck to him, as he will need it.

If being Royal was creditworthy in court, Prince Andrew would have nothing to sweat about

Twitter's not being sued by the monarch, and also the monarch isn't in charge of the courts. It is not 1600. For practical purposes this shouldn't be different from any other large property manager suing an alleged delinquent commercial tenant.

Failing to pay rent on offices seems to be a recurring theme at Twitter. Is this one of Musk's schemes to lay people off outside of legal methods? By eliminating their workplace first? Is it weaponized incompetence? Or has he fired so many people that the company is no longer capable of surviving?

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