A prominent Canberra doctor has been evicted from his Barton surgery after a bitter split with a southside medical partnership.
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But Dr Andrew Foote has appealed against the ACT Supreme Court decision that also ordered him to pay more than $334,000 in overdue rent.
Justice Hilary Penfold on Tuesday threw out Dr Foote's application that would have allowed him to keep his rooms pending the appeal.
He was ordered to vacate the premises by Friday or the authorities would be called in.
But the judge did order that a specialist fit out – most of which was paid for by Dr Foote – should stay in place until the appeal had been decided.
Justice Penfold also said eight sub-tenants could continue to work in the offices at the centre of the dispute.
The orders are the latest in an ongoing spat involving Dr Foote's split with the Barton Property Partnership No 2.
Dr Foote, an obstetrician and gynaecologist, had been a member of the partnership – formed by several medical practitioners at the Barton medical precinct – until he wrote a letter of his intention to quit in September 2013, with the final resignation taking effect in April last year.
Dr Foote then began negotiating the purchase of a Sydney Avenue property from the partnership.
Meanwhile, the partnership terminated his lease at the property in May last year, on the grounds that Dr Foote had not paid rent on the premises since August 2012.
Dr Foote' s lawyers, Ken Cush and Associates, lodged a tenancy dispute contesting the termination with the ACT Magistrates Court.
The matter was then was transferred to the ACT Supreme Court,
The court papers argued that rent had not been an essential term of the lease because the partnership had agreed to set off payments payable against money owed by it to Dr Foote.
But the partnership, in a defence filed by Kamy Saeedi Law, said money owed to Dr Foote would be taken into account in the sale price of the units once it had been agreed upon.
Master Mossop ordered Dr Foote to vacate the premises by January 9, pay $334,388.57 in outstanding rent, and cover the property partnerships legal costs.
Dr Foote has appealed against that decision, arguing that Master Mossop erred in finding the parties were not bound by an expert determination on the dispute.
Dr Foote asked the court to order that he be sold 3.25 units for more than $2.44 million.
But an application to stay the eviction was dismissed and Dr Foote's eviction date set for January 16.
Justice Penfold ruled the financial harm to the partnership if a stay had been granted would have been greater than that suffered by Dr Foote.
