The tenant of Cheltenham's iconic Cavendish House has been booted out as of this morning.

Hailed as a "victory of common sense", landlord Canada Life Asset Management has ended its lease agreement with Stated Property.

It is the first time the company has been named publicly since taking over the tenancy in March from Stanbury Estates.

It brings to an end a chapter of Cavendish House marked with uncertainty. A question mark has hung over its future for weeks after an investigation by Punchline-Gloucester.com revealed debts amounting to an estimated £849,874  had been racked up for the property.

Traders mostly paid rent in cash and had no way of directly contacting the tenant. Utility companies said they were unaware there had been change in tenancy and had struggled to contact anyone over the unpaid bills.

Earlier this month they voiced fears the building could go dark  in a matter of days after being handed letters from British Gas about a £411,428 unpaid electricity bill.

Last week Canada Life Asset Management was urged to clarify the "opaque" arrangement  at the prominent site by Cheltenham's MP and council leader.

The London-headquartered landlord has now confirmed management of the landmark property has been handed to Sanderson Weatherall, under the same team who manages its neighboring Regency Arcade property.

A spokesperson for Canada Life Asset Management said: "Effective Friday October 24, 2025, Canada Life Asset Management will assume direct responsibility for Cavendish House in Cheltenham.

"A locally based management team of Sanderson Weatherall LLP, with experience of both the town and the building, has been appointed to act in the capacity of managing agent to oversee day-to-day operations.

"Bringing Cavendish House under Canada Life Asset Management's direct management will provide certainty for the independent, local traders and artisans who continue to operate there and enable long-term redevelopment plans for the site.

"We are not in a position to comment on matters relating to former tenants."

It declined to comment on whether it would be helping the council and utility companies pursue the unpaid bills.

Cheltenham MP Max Wilkinson said: "This is a victory for the common sense arguments made by local people.

"I'm pleased that Canada Life has listened and decided to make a fresh start - the previous arrangements were clearly not sustainable and were causing a lot of concern.

"I hope they now bring renewed focus to the much bigger challenge - an ambitious redevelopment to breathe new life into a 200-year-old landmark in our town centre."

Cllr Rowena Hay, leader of Cheltenham Borough Council, said: "I'm very pleased that Canada life has heard us and our concerns and that of the businesses in Cavendish House and that they will step in and provide certainty for the traders.

"I look forward to a better communication platform with them and the council.

"My first and foremost priority is to our residents that they understand in a clear and transparent way that we, the town, come before any bottom line of a pension fund.

"I look forward to seeing Canada Life's plans for the future of Cavendish House."

Scott Lahive, property manager for Sanderson Weatherall, has already met with business owners who have stalls at Cavendish House. He and operations manager Keith Willaby will handle the day-to-day running of the site, which is currently home to 18 traders.

"Our priority is to give traders some stability," said Mr Lahive. "We want to give them assurances that the building is going to stay open, that they are going to have the ability to trade for the foreseeable future, until the long-term plans are announced on the property.

"There probably will be some changes but beneficial ones. In the coming weeks we'll probably look to increase the amount of independent traders in there and make some changes with lighting and the overall environment.

"We want to have some security presence in there so traders have somebody at hand they can liaise with, and someone that's feeding back to myself and Keith."

He said Sanderson Weatherall would be processing bills from now on while Canada Life would ensure funding was in place to pay them.

A trader from Cavendish House, who did not want to be named, said: "I'm pleased these people have been kicked out. That's a certainty."

"But what's happening about all the money that has been paid for rent deposits and the unpaid bills? There are still a lot of questions to be answered about Canada Life's intentions.

"Are they just going to keep it open till Christmas? I honestly can't see them investing in it longer term as they will lose a tremendous amount of money."

In September a six-week investigation by Punchline-Gloucester.com uncovered bill demands issued to Stanbury Estates for business rates, gas and electricity.

Paperwork in Stanbury's name showed it owed at least £413,475 in business rates as of August 20,2025, £411,428 to British Gas as of September 2025 and £24,971 to NPower/EON as of September 8, 2025.

Punchline wrote to Stanbury Life but never received a response.

In October Canada Life told Punchline to contact a man named Harry who represented the current tenant.

He refused to reveal his surname or the name of the new company, but said it had nothing to do with Stanbury Life and was not liable for any previous bills.

He said a change of tenancy had been applied for and was "ongoing".

Last week he wrote to Punchline accusing us of "inaccurate" reporting and threatening to sue us after we asked for more details of his role with the business.

His letter said: "To clarify, I am the operations manager for Stated Property Ltd, the current tenant of Cavendish House. We have no connection whatsoever to Stanbury Estates or any of their previous operations.

"While there may have been debts or issues left behind by the former tenant, those are entirely unrelated to us.

Our focus since taking on the lease has been to help give local traders and small businesses an opportunity to establish or re-establish themselves on the high street. The cost of obtaining a shop in Cheltenham is prohibitive to many small businesses.

"Unfortunately, the ongoing speculation and negativity surrounding this situation are making it increasingly difficult to do that. Continued inaccurate associations or negative coverage risk discouraging traders and customers which is ultimately going to lead to the closure of Cavendish House — which would help no one. Traders are currently closing stores daily solely due to the noise and speculation from your publication.

"I must also add that the trader that contacted you originally was a known nuisance and has been intent on causing trouble from the outset. He was asked to leave and served notice which is why he contacted you.

"We'd appreciate it if any future reporting could make it absolutely clear that Stated Property Ltd is a separate and unrelated company to Stanbury Estates, and that we are simply trying to bring some positive activity back to the site. You should be supporting this rather than trying to destroy it.

"I don't need to give you a list of inaccuracies as you haven't got anything accurate yet. Please provide personal and business addresses as per the request from our solicitors."

Punchline-Gloucester.com says: "We're glad Punchline-Gloucester.com played its part in uncovering this debacle.

"We are pleased that the leader of Cheltenham Borough Council and MP Max Wilkinson stepped in and threw their support behind our concerns.

"It is great news that Canada Life and Scott Lahive's team have taken over and we look forward to working with them in a positive way as Christmas approaches and with traders as we always have done.

"However, question marks remain over whether £827,000 of business rates have been paid- which is money owed to taxpayers - and what happened to the money that the traders paid in good faith to cover this and the utility bills."