Co-operative Bank and Mombasa Maize Millers Ltd, a firm linked to the family of Mombasa millionaire Mohammed Islam Ali, have settled a dispute over lease of premises where its Mtwapa branch is located just months after the lender went to court seeking an injunction against its eviction.
According to a consent filed in court, the bank says it accepts and acknowledges that its term under the lease between itself and the landlord on February 15, 2015, expired on January 31.
Mombasa Maize Millers Ltd says that at the request of the bank, it has agreed to have Co-op occupy the premises until January next year as a licensee to enable it to find alternative space.
The agreement to occupy the premises will be upon the bank paying a total of Sh24 million to the landlord.
“The plaintiff (bank) agrees and undertake that it shall handover vacant possession of the premises to the defendants on January 31, 2020,” part of the consent signed by Waweru Gatonye & Company Advocates for Co-op and AB Patel Patel for the landlord states.
The consent further states that Coo-op Bank agrees to pay the landlord costs of the suit and counterclaim on a full indemnity basis.
It further stated that the bank shall be obliged to immediately vacate the premises should it default on its payment obligations.
Co-op initiated the suit claiming that Mombasa Maize Millers Ltd had begun exerting pressure on it to move out of the premises citing the company’s expansion plans.
The lender said in suit papers that Central Bank of Kenya requires that before a bank’s branch business is closed, written consent of the regulator is a requirement following six-months’ notice by the bank.
Co-op Bank had further argued it had always paid rent and that the landlord had unreasonably declined to extend the lease.
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