Meta, the parent company of the Facebook and Instagram social media platforms, forked out £149m to cancel its office space lease near Regent’s Park. British Land, the landlord of this office block, divulged the information as part of its trading updates.
Meta pays £149m office lease cancellation due to hybrid working
This is the latest in a spurt of brick-and-mortar lease cancellations by tech-based firms. Those in the know said it is because many companies adopted a hybrid working model, where people go into the office to attend meetings and such but perform most of their work remotely. This practice is especially prevalent in the tech sector.
These actions directly impact the earnings of property managers. British Land confirmed that the Meta contract surrender will weaken earnings in the months leading up to March 2024 as it looks for a new tenant for the multi-storey building. However, the company stressed:
We are comfortable with current market expectation for FY24 due to better collection of historic COVID arrears than anticipated.
Experts view this lease break as one the biggest agreements of its kind in the London property market. Analysts indicated that Meta had another 18 years under the current lease agreement and paid seven years’ worth of rent to cancel it.
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Ironically, Meta never occupied the building. This tech giant has three other London sites, one of which neighbours Regent’s Place. Simon Carter, Chief Executive Officer of British Land, said:
Meta’s surrender of our building at 1 Triton Square also enables us to accelerate our plans to reposition Regent’s Place as London’s premier Innovation and Life Sciences campus.
