The owner of the building, beverage trader Horeca Logistics Services, no longer wants to renew the lease of café Monk. This is how the iconic café in Brussels’ Sint-Katelijnewijk comes to an end.
Monk previously sued the owner when he announced that the lease could not be extended. However, this came to naught, according to the law of a renewal of a commercial lease has been refused in some cases. For example, it appears that the owner still wanted to carry out renovation work on his business and that work would cost more than three years’ rent. On that basis, the operator was not right.
The tenant cannot count on compensation either. Jans wonders whether one can really speak of a demolition and renovation, because the building of café Monk is protected. Yet there is little to argue against that. Monk will have to leave the building in Sint-Katelijnestraat by 18 May at the latest. “Not only am I losing the Monk, 27 employees are now out of work, even though it is a thriving business and a financially healthy company,” says Jans.
