Bay Harbour News has learned the club can keep its licence to occupy the premises owned by the Mt Pleasant Community Centre.
The decision has come out of arbitration between the parties.
The dispute began in April last year when the community centre claimed the squash club was in breach of its licence conditions allowing it to occupy the McCormacks Bay Rd courts facility.
The community centre issued a termination notice in April last year which would have forced the squash club to vacate the premises by the end of May and revert management of the courts back to the centre.
Both sides then engaged lawyers and agreed to a private arbitration.
The hearings were held in February and March, with the decision released last week.
The process has cost the parties $9100 each.
Squash club president Hamish Methven and community centre manager Derek McCullough both declined to talk to Bay Harbour News about the arbitration.
They would also not be drawn on any potential further legal action.
They cited the need to discuss the implications further with their respective committees.
However, Bay Harbour News has learned the reasons behind the decision.
This failure to inform was the critical reason why the arbitrator ruled the termination notice invalid.
The main issues debated during arbitration were whether the squash club had breached its licence conditions, and if any breaches gave the community centre the right to terminate the licence.
The alleged breaches included the squash club having members who are not also members of the community centre.
Bay Harbour News has learned this breach was found inconclusive because the non-payment of an annual subscription from the squash club to the community centre made all dual memberships between the groups unclear.
However, the squash club had made a different breach – the club’s committee did not have a member who was also part of the community centre.
The community centre was aware of this for years and no action was taken.
Another breach was proven accurate. The squash club failed to provide a required annual financial statement at the end of 2022.
Despite the breaches, the community centre’s responsibility as the property owner to inform the squash club of its obligations outweighed any violations.
