Uganda’s Mission in New York has sued a tenant for failure to pay rent amounting to $470,000, about 1.6 billion Uganda Shillings according to the current exchange rate.
The five-story building is located at Lenox Hill townhouse at 111 East 70th Street, Manhattan, the heart of New York City. The government of Uganda bought the building in 1963 and used it as its mission to the U.N. for two decades before moving to Uganda House, its current location at 336 East 45th Street, across from the United Nations headquarters.
The building subsequently became the ambassador’s residence. However, starting 2015, it was rented out given that government would earn about 100 million Uganda shilling in rent per month. The money from the building is remitted to the consolidated fund.
Financier and art dealer Asher Edelman described as an “an art dealer with a reputation for quarreling over bills” by The Real Deal, a real estate publication in New York owes $470,000 to Uganda in unpaid rent.
He rented the apartment in 2017 but has not paid rent since April last year.
The Ugandan Mission is suing for more than $800,000, which includes rent due on the remainder of the lease through June of next year, according to documents submitted to the supreme court of the state of New York, county of New York.
Uganda’s UN Permanent Representative Adonia Ayebare who is the head of Uganda Mission in New York said in an interview that they “reached a conclusion that going to court is the only option.” He says the Uganda government has heavily invested in “renovating the building to excellent standards.”
According to documents submitted to court, the tenant acknowledges the debt but had wanted to pay less than what was agreed in the lease due to the effect of the coronavirus pandemic.
“The tenant offered to pay an arbitrary amount which is much less than the rent due,” court documents read. “The landlord rejected the tenant’s offer to modify terms of the lease and did not agree to accept payment of the amounts that were less than the rent payments due.”
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