Now his latest council stoush could cost him his house.<\/p>\n
Council group chief financial officer Ross Tucker said Finau hadn\u2019t paid his property\u2019s rates bill since 2018 and staff had been unable to contact him despite repeated phone calls and door knocks.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo date, the council\u2019s efforts have been unsuccessful and we have begun the legal process to obtain judgment that could eventually lead to a rating sale, if the owner doesn\u2019t contact us about the unpaid rates,\u201d Tucker said.<\/p>\n
While the legal process could end in Finau\u2019s home being forcibly seized and sold, Tucker said that remained a last resort.<\/p>\n
Ike Finau’s home on Warnock St in Grey Lynn in Auckland as seen on Google Maps in 2024. Photo \/ Google Maps<\/p>\n
The council currently had 161 legal proceedings under way to recover unpaid rates, involving 171 properties.<\/p>\n
However, it was more than five years since the council had forced a sale over rates, Tucker said.<\/p>\n
Due to privacy laws, the council could not reveal how much money Finau owed in rates.<\/p>\n
Property records showed the home was valued at $2.73m in the latest capital valuation round and that the rates bill would be $7448 in the coming 2025-26 year.<\/p>\n
The council was taking the latest action because Finau had proved elusive, Tucker said.<\/p>\n
The public notice about Warnock St\u2019s unpaid bill stated it had been issued because Finau was \u201ceither unknown or absent from New Zealand, or cannot be found\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor many years, we have tried direct correspondence, phone calls and multiple visits to the property,\u201d Tucker said.<\/p>\n
Now Finau needed to contact the council before December 18 or the local government body would start court proceedings.<\/p>\n
If legal action went ahead, the home could potentially be seized and sold 18 months from now.<\/p>\n
Ike Finau’s home on Warnock St in Grey Lynn in Auckland as seen on Google Maps in 2019. Photo \/ Google Maps<\/p>\n
The council would use the sale to recover money owed to it, while any extra cash would go to the owner or into a court-held trust until the owner claimed it.<\/p>\n
Tucker encouraged Finau or an immediate family member to contact the council.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe always prefer to resolve the matter, rather than take action through the courts that could lead to a rating sale,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Herald visited Finau\u2019s home but he could not be reached for comment. <\/p>\n
A decades-long battle<\/p>\n
Finau\u2019s dispute with authorities has stretched more than 20 years.<\/p>\n
The Auckland Council ordered him to take down billboards attacking councillors in 2001 because they violated a bylaw.<\/p>\n
The matter moved to court and, in December 2002, Finau was found in contempt of court for failing to comply with legal orders.<\/p>\n
Despite facing 21 days in jail, his signs remained up in his front yard.<\/p>\n
Then council did a U-turn.<\/p>\n
Ike Finau’s home on Warnock St in Grey Lynn in Auckland as seen on Google Maps in 2012. Photo \/ Google Maps<\/p>\n
Despite spending thousands of dollars on lawyers and finding 83 per cent of residents supported the bylaw Finau had been taken to court over, the council feared making him a martyr<\/a> and asked the judge to reconsider.<\/p>\n A judge agreed and in 2003 struck down the jail term<\/a>.<\/p>\n Judge Roderick Joyce ruled Finau and his signs were \u201cbut a pawn in a game being played out by others\u201d, and that the people \u201ctruly responsible for his defiance\u201d were not before the court.<\/p>\n In a 2011 interview<\/a>, Finau said he had not paid water rates for about 14 years and described his signs as his \u201cmedia\u201d.<\/p>\n He stated he followed \u201cGod\u2019s law\u201d and believed New Zealand operated under a \u201cfalse jurisdiction\u201d.<\/p>\n He flew the United Tribes flag, which he called the \u201ctrue sovereign flag\u201d.<\/p>\n Forced sales are rare<\/p>\n Forced rating sales by the Auckland Council are exceptionally rare<\/a>, with only one completed since the supercity began. <\/p>\n That 2015 sale involved Charlotte Hareta Marsh<\/a>, who lost her home after a nine-year refusal to pay rates, claiming she had instead paid a self-proclaimed sovereign authority.<\/p>\n Other high-profile sales have been halted at the eleventh hour. <\/p>\n Last year, an auction of an \u014ctara home over a $317,000 bill was abandoned after media coverage prompted relatives to reveal the owner was deceased. <\/p>\n The council had been unable to contact him for years.<\/p>\nIke Finau’s home on Warnock St in Grey Lynn in Auckland as seen on Google Maps in 2009. Photo \/ Google Maps<\/p>\n
Charlotte Marsh at her former home in Manurewa before it was forcibly sold by the Auckland Council following her refusal to pay $12,000 in rates. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n