Green vape, an Auckland-based vape store recently installed security grills to keep the store safe from ramraids. However, the building owners are not happy with the storefront grills the shop owner installed and now they want him to take them down.
According to Ariful Islam the vape store owner, he invested $10,000 in installing the grills in front of his vape store doors and windows as a security measure.
He says that he did this after his old vaping shop located in Hamilton was ramraided in February last year and the raiders made away with valuables worth thousands of dollars. He had to take precautions to protect all his vape shops from similar happenings in future.
But, About Body Corporates which is in charge of his Ponsonby shop premises was not happy when it was informed that the vape shop installed security measures. The corporate body has asked him to remove the grills. The Body Corp managers think that the grills are an eyesore.
To help save his grills Islam said that he covered some of the grills with artificial flowers and painted the metal bars to make them more attractive but the Body Corp is adamant that it wants the grills removed.
The About Body Corporates has said that the matter is still under discussions involving the tenant, the landlord and the body corporate. This follows an effort by both the landlord and Islam to try and broker a deal to keep the grills.
While Islam admits that he did not seek permission from either body corporate or his landlord before installing the grills he says that he has done everything possible to beautify them so that they don’t look out of place. Following the loss he suffered from ramraids in February he made sure that he had those grills installed well before he opened up his shop. But this has been a constant source of friction with the body corp.
His landlord has been quite understanding even talking to the body Corp to help keep the grills because Islam had suffered from ramraids before and was just protecting his investment. He also explained to the body Corp all that Islam had done to beautify the gate. The landlord and Islam have even considered alternatives such as having the grills installed inside the shop instead of outside.
He bemoans that society today is fixated on having set rules, laws and contracts obeyed at all costs. This makes it hard sometimes to help victims of crime. But he also tries to understand the body Corp as he says that if the body did not enforce its laws and regulations then there will be chaos.
Islam now has to write and submit a proposal on the way forward to the body Corp for approval next week. This follows the negotiations that have been ongoing and the fact that he is the one that breached the agreement by installing the grills without seeking permission.
Islam believes that the rules being followed by the body corporate are outdated and do not work in the modern business environment. He says because of those rules he has wasted a lot of time engaging the Auckland Council, the Local police and the Auckland Transport to have his grills approved.
While his efforts are yet to yield substantive fruits, he hopes that he will have his wishes fulfilled. He also hopes that the body Corp will work on amending its rules to make it easy for tenants to carry out businesses with a lot easy. Most importantly he wants the government to provide more security to small businesses in the city.
