- Auckland home relisted four months after court-ordered sale for unpaid rates, following a major makeover.
- The Northcote property sold for $610,000 after its owner accrued nearly $220,000 in rates debt.
- It was only Auckland Council’s second rates-related forced sale since 2010.
An Auckland home that was forced onto the market by a court order over hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid council rates has been relisted less than four months after changing hands.
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The property’s new owner bought the run-down four-bedroom, two-bathroom home at 4/70 Raleigh Road, in Northcote, for $610,000 in April and has since given it a makeover.
Barfoot & Thompson agent Oscar Pan, who is marketing the property with colleague Gurpreet Hayer, said the vendor had originally planned to live in the home to take advantage of local schooling options, but plans changed.
Everything in the house was new, including the kitchen, bathrooms and flooring, he said.
“For complete confidence, third-party moisture testing and thermal imaging reports are available upon request,” the agents noted in their listing.
The property has benefitted from a new kitchen and new bathrooms. Photo / Supplied
The owner had bought the property to live in, said the listing agents, but plans changed. Photo / Supplied
Barfoot & Thompson agent Philip Davis had previously been tasked with selling the property on behalf of the court. His listing at the time pitched it as a do-up. “The interior and exterior are in poor condition and will require a full renovation to bring up to modern standards,” his listing said.
The Registrar of the High Court of New Zealand at Auckland ordered the property be sold in April at the request of Auckland Council because of a massive unpaid rates bill.
Owner Choi Wu purchased the property in 1995 for $438,000, but had not paid rates on it since 2005, according to a report in the New Zealand Herald.
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The amount owing in July 2023, when Auckland Council made its application to the High Court, was just under $220,000 including interest and penalties.
Auckland Council group chief financial officer Ross Tucker said he could not legally disclose the final debt owed by Wu, but confirmed the sale covered the full debt and council costs.
“When rates go unpaid for extended periods, the cost is ultimately carried by other ratepayers. It is important that outstanding rates are recovered, so we are being fair to the thousands of Aucklanders who do pay their rates.”
The council had spent years trying to track down Wu, who is understood to be overseas. It hired a private investigator before finally taking the drastic move of selling the house.
The home has views out to the harbour and across to the CBD. Photo / Supplied
Tucker said the remaining proceeds from the sale of 4/70 Raleigh Road were sitting in a trust, administered by the Public Trust, waiting for Wu to come forward.
The property, which has an RV of $1.025m, is only the second to be sold off by the council over unpaid rates since 2010.
- 4/70 Raleigh Street, in Northcote, Auckland, goes to auction on August 21
