Helsinki Water seeks to throw out water bottling company Nord Water from its premises

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The water bottling company Nord Water, which bottles Helsinki tap water to the Middle East market, has fallen into a disagreement with its landlord Helsinki Water.
      The companies sought clarification to confusion over a tenancy agreement in the Helsinki District Court in February.
      Nord Water’s water bottling plant operates in premises in Silvola leased from Helsinki Water.
      The City of Helsinki sold Nord Water to the Saudi Arabian Al Faddaghi & Partners in 2006.
     
In Helsinki Water’s view Nord Water has been a rotten tenant ever since the transaction.
      “I do not remember that the company has once paid its rent on time”, comments Helsinki Water managing director Jukka Piekkari.
      In court, Helsinki Water sought confirmation to the cancellation of the tenancy agreement from over a year ago. According to the landlord, at worst Nord Water had owed Helsinki Water four months’ rent.
      In addition, Nord Water had blocked shared access ways, thereby causing inconvenience and danger, Helsinki Water complained.
     
According to Nord Water, the landlord did not take care of its own commitments. The fence and gate that were promised in the tenancy agreement were never built.
      In the tenant's view, no shared use of the passage areas in question had been agreed upon. Instead, the landlord had used certain parts of the leased area without permission for through traffic and storage.
      According to Nord Water, the company simply withheld paying the rent as means of negotiation in the talks with the landlord.
      In Nord Water’s view the cancellation of the tenancy agreement would require more exhaustive criteria than average, because the agreement was made out for a 25-year period in connection with the 2005 purchase deal.
      To the District Court, Nord Water explained that in practice cancelling the tenancy agreement would mean the shutting down of the company.
     
The Helsinki District Court decided the case in favour of Helsinki Water. Nord Water was ordered to move out immediately under pain of eviction, and to pay Helsinki Water’s legal expenses of around EUR 11,000.
      According to Nord Water managing director Tuomas Perttula, the company plans to take the case to the Court of Appeal.
      The company’s operation in Silvola continues as normal.
      According to Perttula, the company has also made enquiries regarding an alternative location in case the District Court’s ruling holds also in the Court of Appeal.
     
Nord Water was established by the City of Helsinki in 2002, and hit the headlines in 2006 when the company - which Helsinki had not been able to make profitable - was sold on to a Saudi firm.
      The company had intended to increase production from 30 million to 100 million bottles a year, but production figures have not risen to any great extent.
      The company's main market is in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Helsinki sells 1,400,000 bottles of water to Saudi Arabia (7.1.2004)
  Sale of Helsinki´s Nord Water fails - Saudi-Arabian buyer "goes quiet" (2.3.2005)

Links:
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