After giving notice, a tenant of frequent Wellington litigant Harry Memelink then became embroiled in repeated litigation over lease payments allegedly due. After the expense of a third court hearing, the High Court ruled Memelink’s tenants were not liable for body corporate levies payable by Memelink as their landlord.
Road Runner 2012 Ltd took lease of a café in Wakefield Street Lower Hutt in 2014. Its landlord was Link Trust No. 1; a trust controlled by Harry Memelink. The trust owns multiple units in the 14-unit commercial building. This trust has for years been disputing body corporate levies payable not only for the unit occupied by the café but also similar levies payable for five other units owned by Memelink’s trust.
The High Court was told Road Runner gave notice in late 2019, terminating its lease, disputing Memelink’s trust claim that the café make increased contributions towards Memelink’s outgoings as landlord. What started initially as a claim against Road Runner in the Disputes Tribunal by Memelink’s trust for some $10,400, escalated to a District Court claim for $12,400. After this District Court claim was struck out, Memelink’s trust filed an amended claim in the District Court for about $75,000. The bulk of this claim was a demand that Road Runner under its lease was liable to pay landlord costs for body corporate levies and Hutt City rates covering the five years it was in occupation of the café. In June 2021, a District Court ruling found Road Runner liable to pay outstanding rent only, assessed at $3726. Part of the claim dismissed was a claim the tenant should pay an insurance premium to Memelink’s trust for insurance it supposedly provided Road Runner. Memelink’s trust is not an insurer; it did not provide insurance cover.
Next stop, the High Court. Memelink’s trust claimed the District Court ruling was an interim ruling applying to unpaid rent only; it left open the possibility of still pursuing a claim for landlord’s share of body corporate levies and Council rates. Road Runner protested; this amounted to taking a third bite of the cherry, causing Road Runner to become entangled in what was in essence a dispute between Mr Memelink and the body corporate. Justice Gwyn ruled that the District Court decision over outgoings was conclusive. A decision stating arrears of rent only totalling $3726 was still due amounted, by implication, to a ruling that the tenant was not liable for any of the outgoings claimed by Memelink’s trust.
Road Runner 2012 Ltd v. Memelink – High Court (2.03.22)
22.050