The Hungarian state-owned Eximbank has been ordered by court of appeal to pay Dob-68 Zrt. around EUR 2.2m for not paying lease on the Lanchid Palace since 2017. The fee includes both rent and interest on the unpaid debt. Eximbank and Dob-68 Zrt signed a 10-year contract agreed in 2013 and signed in 2014. After the elections that year the banks management changed, and the new board decided in 2015 that they were paying unfairly high rents and demanded to terminate the contract. Eximbank still continued to pay around EUR 16 per square meter, for approximately 7.000 square meters of office space, that the bank had remodeled to suit its needs, but in 2017 with the lawsuit continuing the board decided to stop paying rent. With Eximbank losing this case, they now face yet another meeting in court with Dob-68 for the damage caused by alterations to the building that were done in order to meet the needs of the contract that is now cancelled.
photo by Mark Ahsmann
