Paihia's only full-service supermarket was evicted from its premises after a High Court decision found the lease had expired effective immediately.
Workers at Countdown's Puketona Rd supermarket arrived about 7am last Wednesday but were asked to leave about 10am by Ian Blakeman who leases the site, which he had sub-leased to the supermarket. Countdown, which is operated by General Distributors Limited, had been in lease negotiations with Mr Blakeman and Craig Johnston, the trustees of the Blakeman Trust, for a number of months. Mr Blakeman and Mr Johnston were unable to be reached for comment by edition time.
At 5pm last Tuesday - September 9 - in the Auckland High Court, Associate Judge Warwick Smith found Countdown's sublease expired on August 1.
Judge Smith found that although the supermarket was entitled to one month to remove partitions, signs and additions, that period had expired on September 1. Judge Smith found the Blakeman Trust was entitled to the immediate vacation of the property.
The trust's head lease expires on December 6, though it may enter a new lease or buy the site. Countdown argued that if either of these happened it was entitled for the first right of renewal on a new lease or sublease. Countdown's sublease commenced on August 27, 2001, for 10 years. It had one right of renewal for about two years and 11 months, which Countdown exercised, making the final expiry date August 1, 2014.
