Lendlease locks Australian business Cliftons out of its Melbourne venue, disrupting client events

Cliftons Event Solutions, an Australian-owned events, training and examination venue operator established in 1997, was this morning locked out of its venue at 440 Collins Street, Melbourne, by its landlord, Lendlease, disrupting clients with events booked at the venue this week.

The lockout is the culmination of a dispute Cliftons has been trying to resolve for nearly two years. Cliftons says that, rather than engaging in commercial discussions, Lendlease declined to negotiate and instead pursued the matter through letters of demand from its lawyers.

Cliftons says the dispute centres on alleged rental arrears - including COVID-era deferred rent - that Lendlease says that it is entitled to recover in full, despite Cliftons' asserting its own claim due to alleged failures of Lendlease to meet basic obligations as landlord. Cliftons alleges that these include a failure to maintain and upgrade essential amenities such as bathroom facilities; as well as Lendlease carrying out extended lobby and building works that disrupted Cliftons' clients over many months without compensation; and the discovery of asbestos in the building, during which Cliftons was again left without access to part of its tenancy without compensation. Throughout, Cliftons says, no fair or workable commercial resolution was reached despite its repeated requests to negotiate directly with Lendlease.

"Cliftons has been a proud Australian business for nearly 30 years, and our absolute priority right now is our clients, many of whom have events booked with us this week. To them, I am deeply sorry," said Vanessa Green, CEO of Cliftons. "We are deeply disappointed by this kind of commercial behaviour. For almost two years we have tried to sit down with Lendlease to find a fair commercial resolution. They have not shown any reasonable willingness to have that conversation, choosing instead to send lawyers' letters and now to lock the doors on a long-standing Australian tenant and the clients who depend on us."

"To demand full rent including COVID-era arrears while, in my view, failing to carry out basic works the landlord was responsible for, and having earlier left us without access during an asbestos episode, is what I can only describe as unconscionable," Ms Green said. "This is, in our view, commercially predatory behaviour toward a local Australian business, and we will not be intimidated. We will keep fighting for a fair outcome for Cliftons, our people and our clients."

Cliftons is calling on Lendlease to restore access immediately so that client events can proceed. Cliftons is contacting all affected clients directly and is working to relocate or support every booking impacted by the closure.

About Cliftons

Founded in 1997, Cliftons is an Australian-owned provider of premium event, conference, training and examination venues and services across the Asia-Pacific, with offices in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong.