Three bedrooms, one bathroom, and a tremendous amount of “hazardous waste” were some of the hallmarks of a mortgagee sale of a 1.8-hectare rural Tasman property.
Embalming fluid, 111 gas bottles, and 160kg of rat bait were among the tonnes of waste found at the property.
The house had been put up for mortgagee sale in April, while property owner Paul Hogarty was sentenced in June 2025 to 20 months in prison for “kidnapping” a meter reader.
A September 2024 visit by a Tasman District Council compliance officer to the Lower Moutere property revealed “significant quantities of numerous sorts of hazardous substances” that were at risk of discharging into the ground.
The council visited the site after the material was identified by police at another location before it was transported to the property in Lower Moutere.
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More than 13,000 kilograms/litres of waste was found, including 1000L of rust remover, 560L of degreasers and descalers, 310L of waste oil, and 80L of phosphoric acid.
Various other acids, alkalines, cleaners, flammable liquids, lab chemicals, liquid mercury and agrichemicals – including Chlordane, which is toxic to humans and banned in New Zealand – were at the property.
Quotes sought by the council for the clearing of the waste reached as high as $92,500.
The council had successfully acquired an enforcement order for the removal of the substances, which were poorly stored and at risk of leaking into the environment, against Hogarty, who lived at the property, at the Environment Court in May.
At the same time, ANZ had put the property up for mortgagee sale.
Clement and Desiree Powell have now bought the property, and Clement said the situation was “quite unusual”.
“There was a merry old mix of all sorts of stuff there, including… a significant amount of embalming fluid and all sorts of other stuff.”
With a background in various forms of contracting, many of the individual chemicals weren’t strange to him.
“It’s just the magnitude of some of it,” Powell said.
“There was probably, I think, without exaggerating, 1000–1200 litres of formaldehyde… that stuff’s quite nasty to get into the environment.”
The stockpiles of waste were thankfully left untouched by the recent flooding in Tasman.
The council could only speculate on what would have happened if the “acutely toxic materials” had been washed away, but said that they had posed a “very real risk of serious damage” to the aquatic environment.
The material needed to be gone by October 25, but Powell thought the property would be “very, very near to being clear” this week.
“We could well live there, we could sell it again… We really haven’t decided. I actually like this spot, but there’s a whole hell of a lot of work that’s got to happen there.”
He added that the council, courts, and police have been “good and accommodating” as he sought to remove the waste from the property.
“They’ve all worked very well to assist us to resolve this whole problem.”
Bayleys real estate agent Matt Galvin said it was an “interesting sale” to make.
“I dealt with an incredible amount of interest. It was great to be able to pass on all the information that came up along the way.”
His social media post about the property was seen over 19,000 times and received nearly 3,000 engagements, he said, and its website listing was seen around 60,000 times.
“It gained an incredible amount of interest, with over 90 enquiries.”
Galvin gave his best wishes to the Powells, saying they had made “amazing progress” cleaning up the property.
“It is a real credit to them. I look forward to watching the property transform into the beautiful property I know it should be.”
Local Democracy Reporting is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air