Brno will sue the tenant of the Klein Palace on Freedom Square

Brno - Brno will sue the tenant of Klein's Palace in Liberty Square, city councilor Róbert Čuma (Pirates) told reporters today. In 1994, the Credit Lyonnais Bank Prague company leased the property for 90 years. The rent was set for 40 years at just under 15 million per year, with the company not required to pay it but instead to invest that money into the reconstruction of the building. However, according to Čuma, the reconstruction is currently estimated at around 100 million, while the rent for the elapsed period is about 350 million. The city previously called on the tenant for negotiations, but they have refused.

Klein's Palace currently houses offices and shops. The lawsuit against the tenant was filed last October by the previous leadership led by the ANO movement, and the current leadership led by the ODS today expanded the lawsuit by an additional amount. "The October lawsuit was for the amount of 3.6 million crowns for unpaid rent for the last months of 2015, which are the boundary months in terms of the statute of limitations," reminded Deputy Mayor Tomáš Koláčný. Today, the council approved the extension of the lawsuit by the same amount for the first three months of 2016, again aiming to prevent the statute of limitations from running out.

Čuma stated that the city had previously called on the tenant for negotiations, which he claims they have refused. "They have not even provided the documentation for the reconstruction that was carried out. So we do not know how much the reconstruction actually cost. Sometimes it is talked about in hundreds of millions, sometimes about a hundred million. But we believe that it has already been amortized, so to speak," said Čuma. According to him, the court could thus reveal how much was invested in the reconstruction and how much money Brno could potentially claim from the company for unpaid rent.

The former city leadership spoke about a possible termination of the contract. Koláčný told ČTK today that the city's interest is not primarily to terminate contracts. "But we want to prevent anyone from profiting from municipal property for decades without paying rent for usage," Koláčný stated. He added that no one disputes that the tenant used the property at the invested money. However, the city, according to him, cannot accept free use of the building even many years after the investment amount ceased to cover the rent, considering the duty of care of a good administrator.