{"id":508590,"date":"2026-07-03T22:30:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T22:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/508590\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T22:30:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T22:30:15","slug":"auckland-council-urged-to-fix-slip-blocking-sale-of-dying-womans-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/508590\/","title":{"rendered":"Auckland Council urged to fix slip blocking sale of dying woman\u2019s home"},"content":{"rendered":"

The slip occurred during the 2023 Anniversary Weekend floods<\/a> and did not cause any structural damage to the house or property. <\/p>\n

Geotechnical reports, including one that Feather commissioned in February 2025, before her diagnosis, and an earlier EQC-commissioned assessment, found the impacted slope failed the council\u2019s own minimum stability standards and recommended a structural fix. <\/p>\n

Engineers proposed either a cantilevered retaining wall or soil nailing, built on the council-owned road reserve.<\/p>\n

\"RachaelRachael Feather’s Titirangi home on Wood Bay Rd with the slip below her property on road reserve land. Photos \/ Supplied <\/p>\n

When contacted by the Herald, Auckland Council said there were no plans to repair the slip.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the number of public roads and parks across the region, it\u2019s not possible to address all slips as it would be a massive funding burden for Aucklanders,\u201d the council said. <\/p>\n

\u201cRepairs are prioritised where it impacts public access and assets, and AT [Auckland Transport] is increasingly building resilience into those repair sites.\u201d<\/p>\n

Feather\u2019s daughter, Morgan Lee, does not understand the council\u2019s priorities.<\/p>\n

Repair work related to the Auckland Anniversary weather event is currently underway close by on Wood Bay Rd. A repair of the slip under her mother\u2019s home could be incorporated into that project, she believes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re already doing the roadworks. The road is already closed, all the people and the resources are there. <\/p>\n

\u201cDo that little extra bit. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s paid all of her rates. Why would you not?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MorganMorgan Lee and her mother Rachael Feather feel the Auckland Anniversary floods recovery programme has failed them. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n

A labour of love<\/p>\n

Before moving to Titirangi, Feather lived in Kingsland for more than 30 years, raising her two daughters as a solo mum while studying psychology to become a Jungian analyst. <\/p>\n

Feather bought her Wood Bay Rd property in 2020 and set about renovating the home surrounded by native bush. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was in a terrible condition, and so I played with it for five years doing repairs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was making it into something beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n

The move was to create a sanctuary and a legacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew that it would be worth selling and that it would benefit the girls in the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NumerousNumerous slips resulted from the Auckland Anniversary floods in 2023, including this large slide in Titirangi. Rachael Feather’s home is on the right with the small slip dropping on to Wood Bay Rd. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

The 2023 Auckland Anniversary floods were a big scare for Feather and other residents of Titirangi, which suffered numerous slips.<\/p>\n

In April 2024, the council assigned Feather\u2019s property a Category 1 risk rating, the lowest, meaning it was considered safe to occupy, with any storm damage repairable to its previous state.<\/p>\n

Because the house was deemed safe, Feather received no support under the scheme.<\/p>\n

A separate Auckland Council fund covered slips on road reserves but only where the slip had physically damaged access to the home.<\/p>\n

Feather\u2019s driveway was never blocked, so again she did not qualify for compensation.<\/p>\n

The cancer diagnosis<\/p>\n

In September 2025, Feather was driving with her grandson when her car was smashed in a hit-and-run that wrote off her car.<\/p>\n

While her grandson was unhurt, Feather struggled in the days afterwards to think clearly or walk straight \u2013 symptoms that pointed towards a delayed concussion.<\/p>\n

After doctors\u2019 visits and a CT scan, the true cause was found: a glioblastoma, or brain cancer, pressing on parts of her brain controlling vision and short-term memory.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey call it a tumour, but it\u2019s not a solid mass. It\u2019s like a cobweb, and it just infiltrates the brain and applies pressure because it fills up the skull cavity,\u201d Feather explained.<\/p>\n

She has undergone chemotherapy and radiation, but the treatment has since been halted and the cancer would take its fatal course, she said.<\/p>\n

Ironically, the car crash was fortunate because it prompted the investigations that found the cancer, Lee said.<\/p>\n

\"RachaelRachael Feather is philosophical about her terminal diagnosis but frustrated at spending her dying months stressing over the sale of her home. Photo \/ Dean Purcell<\/p>\n

The family kicked into action.<\/p>\n

Using Feather\u2019s savings and a $90,000 family loan, they built a small home on younger daughter Grace O\u2019Reilly\u2019s property so she could live close by. <\/p>\n

The plan was to sell the Wood Bay Rd home, repay the debts and leave Feather a little to live on and her daughters an inheritance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seemed so logical. Sell the house in Titirangi, that\u2019ll sell no problem, right?\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n

A couple looking to buy their first home offered $800,000, which the family accepted just before Christmas. To make the sale go through, they spent a further $22,000 bringing the house up to code after the building inspection.<\/p>\n

Then the buyers\u2019 lender pulled out, citing the slip and the lack of remediation as making the house too risky to lend against.<\/p>\n

The first-home buyers tried other lenders, but all declined because of the same risk.<\/p>\n

In a bid to save the sale, the buyers considered fixing the slip themselves and were quoted a minimum $100,000 repair bill. <\/p>\n

After weeks of extensions, the buyers\u2019 solicitor confirmed in April that the contract was at an end.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was devastating,\u201d Feather said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt had been such a long process of trying to work with the slip … and then to have that come down as another \u2018no\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like the last possible portal to turning it into some resources for my girls.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe slip on council road reserve land adjoining Rachael Feather’s Titirangi home.<\/p>\n

The family faces having to fix the slip themselves, for which they say they have no funds. They would prefer the council to remediate its own land, Lee said.<\/p>\n

Feather is philosophical about her situation, not feeling cheated by cancer because she has lived a full life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve done my three score and ten.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can handle that part, but I can\u2019t handle the injustice of administrative bodies just saying, \u2018No, that\u2019s not our problem, we\u2019ll leave it with you,\u2019 which I\u2019ve essentially had in emails from the people that matter and that make these decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mike Scott<\/a> is a senior visual journalist at the New Zealand Herald. His work spans writing, photography and video and has won numerous journalism awards, including Videographer of the Year and Best Documentary. He has worked in media for more than 25 years, producing stories across New Zealand and internationally.<\/p>\n

Sign up to The Daily H<\/a>, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The slip occurred during the 2023 Anniversary Weekend floods and did not cause any structural damage to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":508591,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[51,3951,2534,5205,37109,4731,42834,2109,215117,3597,42,1345,27705,19720,43,1536,1118,9215,117096,25995,1133,13311,64572,14040,30331,52047,61,40,38,41,39,11226,24529,102,5816],"class_list":["post-508590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-auckland","tag-blocking","tag-cancer","tag-council","tag-councilowned","tag-days","tag-dying","tag-family","tag-feather","tag-fix","tag-headlines","tag-home","tag-instead","tag-land","tag-news","tag-next","tag-of","tag-pleading","tag-rachael","tag-remaining","tag-sale","tag-sell","tag-slip","tag-spend","tag-terminal","tag-titirangi","tag-to","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-urged","tag-wishes","tag-with","tag-womans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508590\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/508591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=508590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=508590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}