King Charles III's $19 billion real estate firm is taking legal action against Elon Musk's Twitter over unpaid rent

• Twitter faces legal action from the Crown Estate, which manages properties owned by King Charles III.
• Insider understands that the estate has begun legal proceedings against Twitter over its London offices.
• King Charles is the ultimately owner of the estate, though has little day-to-day involvement.

Twitter is being taken to court in the UK by the Crown Estate, which manages the property portfolio owned by King Charles III, over an alleged failure to pay rent on its London office. 

Insider understands that the Crown Estate has issued court proceedings to Twitter following previous contact with the social-media company over unpaid rent, and that two parties are currently in discussions.

All the Twitter signs and logos have been removed from the London office, but Elon Musk's company still occupies it, according to The Daily Telegraph, which first reported on the lawsuit. 

In December 2022, The New York Times reported that Twitter hadn't paid rent on any of its offices for weeks. Since then, the landlord for Twitter's San Francisco headquarters has also begun legal proceedings against the social-media company.

Employees in Singapore were even temporarily evicted from their office due to nonpayment of rent – before Musk ultimately paid up later that day, Insider's Kali Hays previously reported.

Earlier this month, Insider reported that Twitter's New York office has a cockroach problem, with staff also complaining of uncleaned bathrooms and clogged toilets.

This comes amid a series of cost-cutting measures at Twitter, with the workforce reduced from over 7,000 down to 2,300, according to Musk himself. It has also auctioned off nearly 250 items from its San Francisco HQ, with a statue of the Twitter bird logo selling for $100,000. 

Twitter did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

The Crown Estate manages $19.2 billion worth of properties including 241 in central London, according to its most recent annual report. As the property is ultimately owned by the monarch, three-quarters of the Crown Estate's $384 million net revenue profit goes towards public spending in Britain – with the rest given back to the royal family.

The Guardian reported last week that King Charles had asked for the profits from a $1.2 billion portfolio of offshore wind farms owned by the Crown Estate to be used for public funding.