A longtime stallholder at the Old Bus Depot Markets, whose lease was terminated by the market's owners, will contest the eviction in the supreme court later this month.
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Jo Sladic ran a stall at the Kingston markets selling juice and mulled wine for 25 years until June 30, when he claims the market's owners forced him out following an almost year-long dispute between the two parties.
Mr Sladic, whose stall was his only source of income, said he was devastated by the market owners' decision to end the lease, which had left him financially insecure.
"I'm pretty angry about it, I mean, what else can I say? I was pretty surprised about it," he said
"I gave everything else away to focus on the stall."
The stallholder was served with a termination notice by the markets in September 2018, giving Mr Sladic until October 3 to remove his equipment from the site.
The termination notice, seen by The Canberra Times, said stall fees had been paid up until October 3, and that license to operate at the markets could be terminated at any time.
Mr Sladic submitted an application to the ACT Magistrates Court to contest the termination notice.
He said he continued to operate his stall at the markets past the October 3 deadline while the matter was still before the court.
However, the market owners served a fresh termination notice to Mr Sladic dated March 28 this year, ordering him to leave the markets by June 30.
The new termination notice meant Mr Sladic had to file a fresh appeal to the court to contest the notice.
He said that because an appeal was already before the court, he thought his previous application would apply to the new notice.
"I wanted the case to proceed to court. I assumed the original appeal to the court was sufficient because a date had already been set down for a hearing, but I had to contest it again," he said.
Mr Sladic failed to submit the necessary paperwork for the new notice in time, submitting it two weeks late, meaning the termination notice for June 30 came into effect.
He said he's appealing the decision in the ACT Supreme Court, which is set to hear the case on July 25.
"At the last hearing, the markets' lawyers wanted to throw out my case because they said that technically [the appeal] was lodged two weeks late," Mr Sladic said.
"I am arguing that it wasn't late because I had told the magistrate that I was contesting the termination notice at a previous hearing."
Mr Sladic had set up a GoFundMe page to help finance his legal battles.
Following his termination, Mr Sladic said the market removed all his equipment including juicers and lighting and sent it to a storage facility in Fyshwick, without informing him.
Mr Sladic said the termination notice came amid a large change of stalls at the weekly markets, with several long-time stalls no longer operating at the site.
"There's been a high turnover of people at the market," he said.
"There was a cafe in the upstairs section that was there for a while and now it's gone. There was a fruit and veg store that had been there for years and now that's gone.
"There's basically a whole lot of empty spots now in the building."
A spokesman for the markets said some stallholders had decided to retire from the markets or move on.
Old Bus Depot Markets director Anthony Niravong said the termination notice had been handed to Mr Sladic due to stallholder processes not being followed.
"As a business, we have some very simple processes in place which all of our stallholders need to adhere to, to protect both our stallholders, our customers and staff," Mr Niravong said.
"On this occasion, our processes were not followed."
While Mr Sladic said all fees for the stall had been paid, some in advance, the markets' owners dispute the claim.
"The stallholder agreement with Mr Sladic was on a week-to-week basis. Mr Sladic knew of the markets' intention to end the relationship since August 2018," the markets spokesman said.
"Old Bus Depot Markets have worked with Mr Sladic in respect of giving him sufficient time to relocate his stall.
"We were hoping to end the relationship in a cooperative fashion. Mr Sladic commenced proceedings which had no basis."
The market's director said the conduct of Mr Sladic was "unbecoming" of what was expected for a stallholder.
"Conduct of this nature is unacceptable in a workplace, when the markets represents over 200 other stallholders," Mr Niravong said.
"We must consider the needs of all our other represented market businesses, of our customers and to uphold our reputation as a vibrant part of the Canberra community.
"For us, it's about attracting good stallholders and customers and thereby keeping the markets sustainable."
Following the loss of the stall, Mr Sladic said he was uncertain of his future.
"I'm not really able to start afresh. It was my only source of income," he said.
Andrew Brown
I've been part of the Canberra Times since 2016, after reporting at local papers in Sydney's north-west. Since starting at the paper I've had stints on the Sunday Times, on the early morning breaking news round, and now as a general reporter, covering the ins and outs of anything and everything happening in Canberra, with a focus on health.
I've been part of the Canberra Times since 2016, after reporting at local papers in Sydney's north-west. Since starting at the paper I've had stints on the Sunday Times, on the early morning breaking news round, and now as a general reporter, covering the ins and outs of anything and everything happening in Canberra, with a focus on health.
