Twitter sued by Crown Estate over alleged unpaid London rent

Elon Musk’s Twitter is being sued by the Crown Estate after allegedly failing to pay the rent on its London headquarters, The Telegraph can disclose. The estate, which

belongs to the King, filed a claim against Twitter Inc and its UK subsidiary in the High Court. A Crown Estate spokesman said that court proceedings had been issued in the

dispute over Twitter’s UK headquarters in the West End. The Crown Estate administers thousands of acres of Crown-owned land across the UK, including 10m sq. ft of property

in London’s West End. It comes after Mr Musk, the world’s second richest man, bought Twitter for $44bn (£35bn) in October and subsequently made more than half its staff

redundant. The job cuts, followed by a wave of resignations, has resulted in the departure of around 5,000 over the past three months. Twitter now employs around 2,300

people, according to Mr Musk, down from 7,400 at the end of October. Earlier this month, staff at Twitter’s Singapore office were ordered to work from home after the company

reportedly failed to pay its rent there on time. All Twitter signs and logos have been removed from its London headquarters in Air Street in Piccadilly Circus but a member

of staff said the company still had a presence at the site. Although the social media company signed a lease for the third floor for £2.6m per year in 2021, the dispute is

believed to be over Twitter’s first floor office in the same building. It has occupied the first floor since 2014. A spokesman for the Crown Estate said it had tried to

contact Twitter about the alleged rent arrears. Twitter did not respond to The Telegraph's request for comment.