Rental costs for new Cyril le Marquand House site (FOI)

​​​​​Request

Please advise how much Dandara paid for the 99 year lease of the Cyril Le Marquand House site in Union Street and what ground rent is the Government of Jersey required to pay per annum?

Response

The financial terms are confidential and therefore the information is exempt under Article 33(b) (Commercial Interests) of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 as the information is commercially sensitive, however, they represent good value and both the rent and purchase price per square foot were the lowest of all the bids received. 

Article 33 is a qualified exemption; therefore, a public interest test has been applied and is shown at the end of this response.

On practical completion, the Government of Jersey will have the option to rent or buy the building. 

The option can be exercised at any time within three years of completion and the rent and purchase price is fixed for the period of the option. The Government of Jersey will pay a pre agreed Option Fee for use of the building from practical completion until the option to buy or lease is exercised. 

If the Government of Jersey does not opt to buy, it will grant Dandara (the Developer) a long leasehold interest in the site and the Developer will grant the Government of Jersey a lease on the building (the first year’s rent on the building is fixed). 

The Developer will pay the Government of Jersey a pre agreed value for the land plus interest on the grant of the long leasehold interest or deduct the value of the land plus interest from the pre agreed purchase price. 

Article applied

Article 33 - Commercial interests

Information is qualified exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes a trade secret; or

(b) its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of a person (including the scheduled public authority holding the information).

Public Interest Test

Article 33 is a qualified exemption, and a public interest test should be carried out by the Scheduled Public Authority (SPA) to determine whether the information should be released.

It is in the public interest to be made aware of any rental fees in relation to the Cyril Le Marquand House site.   

However, the release of the annual rental fees could potentially disadvantage the tenant and the Government of Jersey’s ability to retain commercial advantage in any future rental negotiations regarding this site.  

Therefore, it is considered that the likely prejudice to the tenant and to the Government, should this information be released, outweighs the argument that the release is in the public interest.