Landlords take Game to court

Landlords, including Intu Properties and British Land, have started a legal battle with Game over unpaid rent at the Court of Appeal with experts warning that the test case could lead to many fresh claims. Landlords are seeking missed rental payments for the first three months after the video games seller called in administrators in March 2012. The landlords argue that insolvency laws — which allow the appointment of administrators a day after the “quarter rent” is due — mean that retailers benefit from a period of rent-free trading at the landlords’ expense. A week later OpCapita led a deal to buy it and acquired about half its stores. It began paying rent on these stores in June 2012. It is understood the amount of unpaid rent in question is about £3m