American bank Citibank is facing an £11m damages claim for breach of the lease of its former offices in Kensington High Street, London.
In a claim issued at London’s High Court and just made publicly available, landlord Fairgate International alleges that Citibank has breached its lease by failing to equip the property and seventh floor flats as required, and by vacating the property at the end of the lease without first decorating, repairing or cleaning it.
The landlord maintains that work costing more than £6.6m will be needed to remove fixtures and fittings in compliance with the specifications set out in the lease, with loss of rent amounting to £2.2m.Other costs, including a VAT bill in excess of £1.3m, will allegedly bring the landlord’s total losses to £11.27m.
The claim states that Citibank took a lease of the offices in 1989, with an initial rent of £1.625m pa. The lease was due to run to December 2013. However, on 28 September 2001, days after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, it was allegedly surrendered back to Fairgate, and replaced by a new lease.
As part of this arrangement, Citibank paid just £1 and the landlord let the property to the bank until 28 September 2002.
In August last year, Fairgate’s solicitor wrote requiring Citibank to reinstate the property as required by the lease, but it says that the bank has breached its obligations by failing to do so.
References: PLS News 13/8/03
