32 homes empty due to red tape and bureaucracy
More than 30 Auckland apartments are sitting empty because of council’s red tape, a developer says.
Rich-lister Richard Langridge said bureaucracy was stopping a former Auckland Council-owned leaky building becoming a modern residential complex with 32 apartments. The 74-year-old bought Pepperwood Mews, on Great North Rd, in 2014 for $2.28 million with a view to turn them into ’’top quality’’ semi-furnished rental accommodation.
Almost 18 months later, Langridge said he had spent about twice the amount but the 2880 square metre site was still an ‘‘eyesore’’. Langridge said Auckland Council processes were ‘‘riddled with bureaucracy’’.
‘‘These are 32 more homes in a city that is going through housing problems.’’
Langridge planned to create state-of-the-art apartments that included 15 two-bedroom units and 17 three-bedroom units - with ensuites, double glazed windows, a private courtyard, a basement car park and communal living areas. Langridge hoped to have the apartments ready to be rented in the next 12 months.
But The Surrey Hotel and Metropolitan Rentals owner said he had faced ‘‘every road block imaginable’’ in trying to work with council. From officers going on leave to lost files - Langridge said he had picked up the bill for it all and was tired of the ‘‘lip service’’ offered by council.
Auckland Council staffer Sally Grey said a consent application was lodged in December 2015. The processing officer went on paternity leave for four weeks in February 2016. The council’s manager of weather-tightness and compliance said the file should have been reallocated.
‘‘In error it was not assigned to someone else to commence processing it,’’ she said.
But she said the consent application was complex and reallocating it temporarily would have been ‘‘inefficient and costly’’. In April 2016, the original processing officer resigned from Auckland Council and another officer was assigned. After the consents were split in two, structural consent for the front units was approved in May 2016. Langridge said his team re-lodged the fit out consent in November 2016, but council lost that file during processing.
Grey said the plans were placed in the wrong property bag, but the correct files followed ‘‘soon after’’. Langridge claims the council’s staff asked a number of times for more information, or for the same information already supplied.
As of May 18, approval for the fit out consent had not been given.