Landlord gives Wellington bar one hour to leave premises

Friends and members of the community came to help Wellington bar PhotonFlux remove their belongings after the landlord gave them an hour to get out. Photo / PhotonFlux Facebook

A Wellington bar was given an hour to remove all of their belongings from its property after their landlord gave them only 60 minutes to get out.

Items were piled outside Photonflux, a "SciFi" inspired eatery and drinking on Victoria Street, yesterday afternoon.

In a Facebook post, Photonflux said they had the community and friends come to assist them remove all chattels from the property but when they showed up, were refused access to the property from the landlords.

"They said they felt intimidated by so many people and that only the two tenants were allowed in. This made removal of everything within 60 minutes, completely impossible."

The landlords eventually agreed on eight people at a time and gave a 45-minute time limit.

The post said after the time was up, they were asked to leave the premises immediately although there are still plenty of belongings inside.

Earlier Facebook posts show PhotonFlux signed a lease in December 2016 for the shop.

"The landlord has ever since been interfering with our business and would not allow us to trade to our full potential. They found ways of using the 'system' to disrupt us."

This included things like the landlord objecting to a liquor license renewal in 2018 and refusing fibre internet being installed.

One week ago, the landlord changed the locks and evicted them out of the building.

"They cancelled the lease on us based on breaching the lease for turning his building in a non-complaint building for not filling a change of use. We have been working on this change of use with council for the last six to eight months."

The landlord did not reply to a request for comment.