A Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council spokesman said:
“The Bedworth Civic Hall Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) successfully bid to enter negotiations with the Council to secure a 20-year lease of Bedworth Civic Hall in October last year.
“Despite the Council working hard to transfer the asset to the community group, extensions to negotiations have been requested by them. In part this is due to a delay in them securing legal representation.
“As part of the selection process, heads of terms were agreed.
“These set out key parameters of the lease for all parties, such as length of tenure, notice periods, activities, and liabilities.
“The Council has made it clear to the CIO that it has limited flexibility to negotiate away from these, as they were offered to other parties during the selection period and we have to run a fair process.
“We want to transfer this asset and have given the CIO a further period to reflect on our negotiations and sign the lease.
“In the meantime, we said in these negotiations that we would provide contractors to remove asbestos from the building, and we have done that.
“We have been very flexible up to now and have compromised on a number of issues, however, we have been very clear throughout this process that time is not unlimited.
“Now the CIO have two weeks to complete the lease and work with us on the terms that were set out right at the start of these negotiations.”