REDDITCH Tennis club (RTC) has been locked out of its base after a dispute over rent.
The club has been at its current site in the ground of Redditch Borough Football Club (RBFC) for 40 years.
But Redditch Tennis Club now says it cannot afford the new service charge of £500 per month.
The tennis club has now accused the football club of introducing the charges to make a profit, claiming it was not given a cost breakdown of how RBFC had reached its figure.
A spokesperson for the Redditch Tennis Club committee said: “As a tennis club we have always encouraged our members and visitors to make good use of the main club facilities in order to support their success.
“An invoice for the membership fees was received on August 10, nearly two weeks after RTC was locked out for non-payment and the invoice is incorrectly calculated as well at £1,200.
“RBFC state that RTC ‘owes’ them £9,715.63.
“RBFC is looking to charge RTC £500 per month for rent and service costs in respect of tennis courts on land that it does not lease or is required to maintain or has not spent a penny developing.
“RTC has been granted free and uninterrupted use of the tennis area by HDA (Mettis), the landlord of the site.
“We understand RTC has no contractual relationship with RBFC in respect of the tennis courts and is looking to engage with Mettis to confirm it continues to have free and uninterrupted use of the tennis courts, as stipulated in the RBFC lease.”
Redditch Borough Football Club, which pays £1,000-a-year to the landowner Mettis Group for its lease, said the service charge it had requested from RTC was to cover the day-to-day running costs of the social club, and maintenance of the site.
RBFC added the cash would contribute towards the electricity and water usage, health and safety inspection, security, facility maintenance, waste disposal, car parking, washroom facilities and other overheads.
In a statement, RBFC said: “All coaches, trustees and board members of Redditch Borough Football Club are volunteers.
“There is no financial gain for any board member and the complete club is run for the benefit of the local community.
“All profits raised are invested back into the facility which is clear and visible with the changes the club has undertaken since Redditch Borough Football Club became the legal lease holder on May 7, 2020.”
The Standard has contacted the landowners Mettis Group and is awaiting their reply.
Clay court fund-raiser
This time last year, Redditch Tennis Club launched its ‘Ready 2 Play on Clay’ crowdfunding campaign to raise £25,000 towards resurfacing two tarmac courts which were over 16 years old and had fallen into a serious state of disrepair.
Sport England pledged £10,000 towards the £60,000 target and the rest of the funds were raised through a number of events and activities.
The £25,000 target – to create two world class courts, enabling people to play tennis all year round – was smashed within just six weeks.
It would have put the club in a unique position as the Red Plus Clay courts it planned to install are rarely found in England.
Those plans have also had to be put on hold until this situation is resolved.
