Bella Vista owners angry at tactics
Just two days after Tauranga City Councillors voted to purchase the 21 affected properties from the failed Bella Vista development, homeowners fear they are being lowballed.
Council’s lawyer Nathan Speir is requesting property owners turn over their sale and purchase agreements of land, building contracts and confirmation of all payments made to Bella Vista.
‘‘Secondly, please outline the legal basis upon which you consider the appropriate measure of loss in this situation to be full market value without defects,’’ Speir’s wrote to legal representatives of affected Bella Vista property owners.
The above conditions were highlighted as being needed to start negotiations but it is at odds with what homeowners were expecting when council agreed to purchase their properties.
Council was contacted on Friday to clarify what the letter meant, however they said they needed more time before they could respond.
That response had not arrived by deadline.
One homeowner, who asked not to be named, said he was ‘‘shocked but not surprised’’ when hearing council was questioning their measure of loss.
‘‘My heart sank when I heard the word negotiation,’’ he said.
The homeowner would not reveal their purchase price but said they approached builders to get an appraisal to rebuild the same home they purchased from Bella Vista.
‘‘We went out to three builders, showed them the plans and asked what it would cost to build a similar home,’’ they said.
‘‘They all started at about $185,000 – $250,000 – more than what we paid at Bella Vista.
‘‘That is what our replacement cost is likely to be and those builders were engaged in the last few weeks.’’
A legal representative for one of the 21 property owners said what their clients paid for the house is ‘‘irrelevant to loss’’ and council should let the homeowners know how their loss will be ascertained.
The property owners bargaining position is bolstered by the findings in the independent report written by QC Paul Heath.
The report investigated the failings of council process during the Bella Vista Debacle.
The report concluded council did not perform monitoring and enforcement functions adequately, failed in its building consent functions, did not perform Building Act inspections for both structural and geotechnical considerations and issued four code of compliance certificates in error.
Heath also said council should take immediate steps to resolve negotiations with homeowners.
‘‘As the Council is, in reality, the last target for litigation from which recoveries are likely, in a practical sense I consider that the benefits of early resolution far outweigh any desire to have the homeowners’ claims tested in Court,’’ he said.
‘‘There are good legal, economic and humanitarian reasons for the council to acknowledge the shortcomings in its regulatory function and endeavour to give a swift resolution.’’
On June 6 the emotional and financial toll the Bella Vista Debacle has caused homeowners was laid bare to councillors with many in the galley brought to tears.
Every single homeowner who presented to council asked for the same outcome, full market value without defects.
This factored in the amount of time it took homes to be built, the change in the market since the contracts were signed and the lost opportunity cost had people invested in other locations.
After the meeting Mayor Greg Brownless said councillors had taken on board what the homeowners wanted.
‘‘We have listened to homeowners, who told us that purchasing the properties was their desired outcome,’’ he said.
‘‘The homeowners have, in their words, been ‘to hell and back’.’’
‘‘There are good legal, economic and humanitarian reasons for the council to acknowledge the shortcomings in its regulatory function and endeavour to give a swift resolution.’’
QC Paul Heath