Catholic newspaper rows with Church over unpaid bills

Three owners of a British Catholic newspaper are in a disagreement with the Church over claims the paper owes about £280,000 (€320,000) in unpaid rent and restoration fees, according to reports.

The Catholic Herald has been based at the back of a church based in London. According to the Financial Times its lease with St Mary Moorfields Trust, a charity run by the Diocese of Westminster, expired last week.

This has led to the diocese asking for hundreds of thousands of pounds including £33,000 (€43,000) in several years of allegedly unpaid rent, with the remainder addressing “dilapidations for the property from the time the tenants had responsibility for the whole site”.

The Catholic Herald disputes the dilapidations element of the bill cited by the Church, and said it would be making a revised offer to settle. It has already made a settlement offer near £125,000 (€143,000) which was rejected by the Church, the Financial Times reports.

The diocese said the offer “was below the quotes received to put the property back into repair, which is [the Herald’s] responsibility under the terms of lease”.

Last week long-time Editor of the Herald, Luke Coppen, announced that he was leaving to take up a new position. It comes just months after the high-profile departure of the newspaper’s Editor-in-Chief Damien Thompson.