The troubled Waiwera Thermal Resort is being chased in the High Court by a wholesale food company which is trying to put the hot pools in liquidation.
The resort, a long-time favourite escape for upper North Island families, has been shut for almost a year.
A lease on the pool complex was cancelled in October after a two-year period of sporadic leasehold payment defaults, the resort's landowner said at the time. Locks were changed and a notice posted on the front door.
The complex was leased to Russian billionaire Mikhail Khimich whose business ran the pools but shut them last February for renovation. Khimich's company bought the lease interest in 2010.
Bidfood, a wholesale food distributor, has applied to put the resort in liquidation, according to a public notice.
