Ever since Elon Musk took over Twitter in October 2022, he introduced many cost-cutting measures, which included the refusal of paying rent for the various office spaces it occupies.
As a result, Twitter has been forced to leave its office in Boulder, Colorado, for defaulting in rent payments.
According to court documents and reporting by the Denver Business Journal, Lot 2 SBO LLC — a Delaware limited liability company related to Chicago’s The John Buck Company that owns Twitter’s office at 3401 Bluff Street in Boulder, had signed a lease with the social media platform for four units in the building in February 2020.
Back then, Lot 2 SBO LLC was provided a letter of credit for $968,000, which was to be drawn upon should Twitter fall behind on its rent.
In the event, that John Buck Co. withdraws money from that line of credit, then Twitter would be responsible for replenishing it within 10 days.
The above line of credit exhausted in March 2023, following which Twitter was required to replenish the letter of credit back to its original amount. According to the court documents, the landlord asked the social media platform to replenish the amount on April 4, 2023. However, the company ignored the request.
Further, on April 28, 2023, the landlord asked Twitter to either fulfill that demand or return the property to Lot 2 SBO LLC. If we consider that the monthly rent amount was regularly paid from the letter of credit, it makes the company owe a sum of approximately $27,000 per month.
On May 12, 2023, the landlord finally filed a complaint against Twitter over three months of unpaid rent, totaling over $75,000. Then, on May 31, 2023, the judge issued an order that the sheriff could assist in the eviction of Twitter from the office within the next 49 days — i.e., before the end of July. The case number is 2023CV30342 in Boulder District Court.
Besides requesting possession of the property, the landlord has also sought the past-due rent, attorneys’ fees and costs, and both pre-judgment and post-judgment interest.
This is not the first lawsuit that Twitter is facing in Colorado. Last month, Boulder-based Avalanche Commercial Cleaning Inc. sued Twitter in the same court over alleged unpaid invoices amounting to $93,500.
Last year, Twitter fired 87 employees at its Boulder office, with another 38 voluntarily resigning, according to a November 25 notice to the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.
Twitter has not yet commented on the report.
