"is they regret to take up" grammatical?

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
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Some of the stallholders had told Channel News Asia that they regret to take up a stall at the bazaar. One of the Kebab sellers Mr Hasan, said, “We’re all losing money. (We) cannot cover costs, cannot even cover rent.”

Is “they regret to take up” grammatical?

Thanks.

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Some of the vendors told Channel News Asia that they regretted having a stall at the bazaar. One of the kebab vendors, Mr. Hasan, said, "We are all losing money. (We) cannot cover the costs, not even the rent.

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Please comment on my observations below.

  1. The past perfect tense construction is being indiscriminately used by many, mostly non-native users of English. Generally, it is chosen to refer to the first of the two past activities. Further, it is used to turn the past simple and present perfect tenses while reporting a direct speech.

  2. The phrase ‘Regret to take up’ - present and, sometimes future.

  • ‘Regret taking up’ - general and past
  • ‘Regret having taken up’ - past (perfective)
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I would say:

…they regretted renting a stall…

Without the rest of the text that is still better. But it’s also strengthened by the last part:

“cannot even cover [the] rent”

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