Liquor woes for restaurateur

LICENSING ISSUES: Bangkok House restaurant owner Ricky Mitrov and partner Toi Simmons are frustrated they can't get a permanent liquor licence until historic consent issues with their leased building are resolved.PHOTO/GLENN TAYLOR

A Napier restaurateur is facing a potentially expensive headache to secure a liquor licence in a case Napier City Council says highlights the dangers of buying a property or business without requesting a Lim report.

Ricky Mitrov says when he paid more than $79,000 to buy popular Dickens St Thai restaurant Bangkok House in September, he expected there would be no problem rolling over the liquor licence granted to the previous owner.

However, after lodging an application he was told by Napier City Council his licence would not be approved until outstanding building consent issues related to the property the restaurant leases were dealt with.

Mr Mitrov said the requirement was unfair because the previous owner had held a liquor licence for a number of years despite the building issues remaining unresolved.

Mr Mitrov is operating under a temporary licence which expires next week and says the restaurant will not be viable if he cannot sell alcohol to diners.

Napier City Council regulatory services manager Mike Webster said unconsented work had previously been carried out on the building and and other consented work had not been completed. A recent liquor licensing law change meant that new applicants now had to demonstrate that their premises complied with planning and building requirements.

"Mr Mitrov needs to get the unconsented work made legal. He can continue to operate under temporary liquor licences until such time as he gets it legal so long as he's making progress towards making it legal."

Mr Webster said a land information memorandum (Lim), setting out details and potential issues with a property, had not been applied for before Mr Mitrov bought the business.

A Lim report was "an important part of due diligence" when buying a business or property, he said.

"It's really unfortunate but if Mr Mitrov had got himself a Lim, prior to kicking off, this would have all been resolved and it's a salutary lesson to everyone: before you go into major real estate and business deals where there's property involved, get yourself a Lim."

Mr Mitrov bought the Bangkok House business from Gavin Long, who had run the restaurant for eight years. Last year Mr Long ran for a seat on Napier City Council but was unsuccessful. He could not be reached for comment yesterday.

The building the restaurant leases is owned by the Napier High Schools Land Endowment Trust. A lawyer for the trust, Chris Morgan, said it had no comment to make on the matter.

Croatian-born Mr Mitrov has run several businesses in New Zealand since arriving in the country in 2005. He and partner Toi Simmons moved from Hamilton when he bought the Napier business and Ms Simmons' son, a chef, along with his family, intend to move to the city next month so he can work at Bangkok House.

"I am extremely frustrated. If the liquor licence was not included we would not have considered buying this business," Mr Mitrov said.

"If they had told me there was a problem with the building consent I would not have bought the business."