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An Auckland brothel boss is refusing to leave her bordello despite her landlord, a criminal barrister and former police officer, hiring security guards to boot her out.
One33 in Auckland’s city centre had once promised party rooms, DJ booths and luxurious rooms with double spas and big-screen TVs for customers keen on spending time with its “sexy ladies”.
But now the power has been cut to the brothel and its front doors barred shut, with the company owned by landlord and former Auckland District Law Society president Tony Bouchier saying it’s owed $176,993 in unpaid rent and insurance costs.
One33 director Aartisha Kumar denies this, claiming Bouchier reneged on a verbal agreement to waive some payments for the 133 Vincent St tenancy during the Covid lockdown, and believes he has unfairly pressured her business to leave its lease.
She now plans to stage a sit-in at the building, despite claiming security guards have been told to stop her using the toilets or have food delivered to her.
One33 had been a tenant at the Vincent St building for 13 years, and built its brand name using the street address, said Kumar, who is a director of Moet Investments, the company behind One33.
The business had been a long-term tenant of De Richaumont Investments, the company set up by building owner Bouchier.
Bouchier is an Auckland criminal barrister and former police officer.
BusinessDesk, which broke the story yesterday, visited 133 Vincent St that morning and discovered Kumar had been confined behind locked gates in the building’s entrance with security staff standing guard since Monday.
The power had been turned off at the CBD fringe premises, and Kumar said she was allowed only blankets and one food delivery after the police intervened.
“It’s just a waiting game because Tony has said he will not get a court order, he keeps saying that I need to sue him,” she said.
The brothel’s business had suffered during the Covid lockdowns.
It calculated it had been unable to access its premises for 210 days during the lockdowns, equating to about $92,000 in total rent.
It hired law firm LegalVision to write an April 2024 letter to lawyers representing Bouchier’s company, saying its tenancy contract contained a clause entitling it to negotiate a fair reduction in the rent due to a state of emergency caused by Covid.
One33 brothel at 133 Vincent St is closed in a rental dispute with its landlord.
One33 brothel operator Aartisha Kumar is occupying the premises in a rent row with her landlord.
LegalVision claimed One33′s team then verbally agreed with Bouchier that the brothel would pay $3000 each month until 50 per cent of the rental arrears had been repaid.
LegalVision’s letter stated the brothel had subsequently already repaid a “fair” proportion of the unpaid rent from Covid and wouldn’t be paying any more.
It also rejected a claim by De Richaumont Investments’ lawyers that One33 had failed to insure the building.
De Richaumont Investments’ lawyers also claimed building insurance was the brothel’s responsibility.
It said the contract had been “clearly” amended in 2012 to state One33 “would pay 100 per cent of the outgoings plus insurance premium currently organised by the tenant”.
De Richaumont Investments’ lawyers consequently said they would forgo $61,311 in unpaid rent and $117,648 in costs related to the building being uninsured since 2020, if One33′s team signed a Deed of Surrender ending the lease.
If the brothel didn’t agree to surrender the lease, Bouchier’s company reserved the right to pursue the brothel for the unpaid money, the lawyers said.
Kumar, meanwhile, said her team would be willing to go to arbitration or court to seek damages for what she believed was the unfair cancellation of the lease.
Knowing that if she stepped foot outside the brothel, she wouldn’t be let back in by security, she now planned to do a protest sit-in.
She said she aimed to force Bouchier’s company to get a court order against her.
In the meantime, she’s having trouble eating, claiming it took the intervention of police on Monday before the security guards allowed food to be delivered into the building.
“I need the cops to come and say: ‘It’s okay, she has to have food’, and then security can give it to me, which I think is ridiculous,” she said.
