Rates were last paid on the property in 2005. The unpaid bill had ballooned to $219,946.99 as of July 2023, including interest and penalties.<\/p>\n
The council would not disclose the current rating debt.<\/p>\n
Property records show the home, which is down a private driveway and part of a block of flats, was last sold in 1996 for $438,000.<\/p>\n
Its new council valuation is $1.025 million.<\/p>\n
Tucker said the property had been listed with Barfoot & Thompson and advertising would commence on Friday. The sale could still be halted but time was running out, he warned.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have undertaken extensive efforts to speak with the property owner over many years. Despite that, we haven\u2019t been able to make contact.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe continue to prefer to resolve the issue than sell the property. A rating sale is always a last resort. We work regularly with property owners on solutions to unpaid rates and would like to work with the Raleigh Rd owner too.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Northcote property boasts views over the harbour and Auckland city.<\/p>\n
All attempts to speak to the owner had been unsuccessful, apart from one instance, Tucker said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite a short period of email correspondence in 2023 and unverifiable claims from third parties purporting to act on the owner\u2019s behalf, no payment plan has been established and no material payments have been received.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tucker said the cost of unpaid rates was ultimately carried by other ratepayers.<\/p>\n
It was important that outstanding rates were recovered<\/a>, \u201cso we are being fair to the thousands of Aucklanders who do pay their rates\u201d.<\/p>\n Private investigator hired to track Wu<\/p>\n A timeline provided by the council shows officials were in contact with tenants and a property manager between 2006 and 2012, but neither had authority to address the rates arrears.<\/p>\n In May 2014, the council hired a private investigator to track Wu before launching legal proceedings the following month, and registering a charging order against the property title in 2015.<\/p>\n \u201cNew information about the property\u2019s appropriate legal categorisation then emerged, which halted court proceedings while the council worked through associated legal details.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2021, the council applied to the District Court to sell the property as abandoned land.<\/p>\n But, after posting a public notice in January 2023, the council received correspondence from a person purporting to be Choi Wu, which prevented the land from being treated as abandoned.<\/p>\n The council now wants anyone who knows Wu or their immediate family members to make contact to resolve the matter.<\/p>\n If the sale went ahead, Tucker said the proceeds would be used to recover the full amount of outstanding rates, penalties and associated costs, including real estate agency and legal fees.<\/p>\n The remainder of the proceeds would be released to the owner or held in trust until claimed.<\/p>\n Tucker said anyone concerned about paying their rates was encouraged to get in touch to discuss assistance options.<\/p>\n These included a government-funded rates rebate scheme, a rates postponement scheme for residential properties, and flexible payment options.<\/p>\n Other forced sales abandoned; cafe owner reached settlement, another owner discovered dead<\/p>\n Auckland Council struck a settlement in April with controversial cafe owner Dilip Kumar Rupa<\/a>, whose family owed a whopping $900,000 in overdue rates<\/a> and penalties.<\/p>\n The debt had grown to be the city\u2019s single largest. The settlement meant the council would no longer pursue a forced rating sale of the Freemans Bay eatery Rupa\u2019s Cafe and two Grey Lynn homes owned by the Rupa family.<\/p>\n In August 2024, an imminent forced sale of a home in \u014ctara was abandoned at the 11th hour<\/a> after council officials learned the owner was dead.<\/p>\n The Guthrey Place house was set to be sold over an unpaid rates bill of $317,000. At the time, it was the city\u2019s longest outstanding rates bill. No payments had been made since March 2005.<\/p>\n The council had tried for years to contact the owner and arrange repayment, without success.<\/p>\n However, after coverage in the Herald, the court-ordered auction was abandoned when relatives of the property\u2019s owner, Joseph William Leef, contacted council officials to tell them Leef was dead.<\/p>\n The only successful compulsory rating sale in the Super City occurred in 2015. <\/p>\n Charlotte Hareta Marsh lost her home of 20 years in a court-ordered sale<\/a> after failing to pay rates for nine years.<\/p>\n Despite repeated warnings, she refused to recognise the authority of Auckland Council and claimed to have paid her rates instead to the \u201crightful land owner\u201d, Arikinui o Tuhoe, a self-proclaimed sovereign authority.<\/p>\n At the time of the sale, Marsh owed more than $12,000 in rates and penalties and nearly $3000 in court costs.<\/p>\n The late activist Penny Bright\u2019s 11-year refusal to pay rates nearly cost her her Kingsland home in the months before her death.<\/p>\nThe property is down a private driveway and part of a block of flats. The owner last made a full rates payment in 2005. Photo \/ Google Maps<\/p>\n
The property is being marketed by Barfoot & Thompson from this Friday and will be sold by auction on April 22 under the direction of the High Court.<\/p>\n
Auckland Council was unable to contact the owners of this house in Guthrey Place, \u014ctara, to arrange payment of outstanding rates and penalties totalling more than $300,000. Photo \/ Jason Oxenham<\/p>\n
Charlotte Marsh at her former home in Manurewa before it was forcibly sold by Auckland Council. She had refused to pay rates arrears of more than $12,000. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n