Efforts to evict the tenant of the Fermain Café have so far cost the States of Guernsey £100,000 in legal fees.
The update has been issued in response to a Freedom of Information request lodged by Deputy Mark Helyar.
He’d asked the Policy and Resources Committee to clarify “the current legal fees incurred to date by Property Services in relation to the Fermain Tea Rooms eviction case”.
He also wanted to know whether any further legal costs are anticipated.
Deputy Helyar found out that the bill is likely to increase even further as the legal wrangles continue.
P&R said that “as of 26 June 2025”, the States legal costs had reached “approximately £100,000 which has been accommodated within existing budgets”.
“Given the case remains ongoing, it is reasonable to expect that further costs will be incurred, however the Committee hopes this will be kept to a minimum,” said P&R.
The situation has developed out of a decision early last year to put the lease for the Fermain Tea Rooms out to tender for the first time in more than two decades.
The current leaseholder has run the Fermain Beach Café for 21 years and had hoped to continue doing so.
When the lease went out to tender last year, the owner of Coco and Lola in St Peter Port won and was given a contract to take effect in November last year.
However, the existing tenant has contested the decision leading to an eviction hearing in court.
A P&R spokesperson said in this case the States had to employ external lawyers to represent the government.
“As set out of in a previous response, it is standard practice to engage external lawyers when there is not sufficient capacity within the Law Officers. This ensures that matters are handled efficiently and without delay.”
The case has previously been listed for court dates but was then removed from the calendar. It’s not currently known when the next hearing concerning this matter is scheduled for.