Residents fight for bigger cut

Beaumont Quarter residents in Central Auckland are fighting to have their $3.1 million annual ground rent bill cut by another $1 million.

The angry apartment owners have already had more than $1 million sliced off payment demands for the land on which their buildings stand.

But they want the annual ground rent knocked back to $2.1 million.

Residents have been claiming confirmation of the first $1 million cut as a huge victory.

But sceptics this week criticised the outcome as a pyrrhic victory and said the owners had negotiated only a slight rent reduction.

The reason they were hailing their deal as a big win was so they could quit the place once praised by Auckland City Council for its good urban design vision, the sceptics said.

The housing development was highly commended for its approach to compact inner-city living.

But many apartment owners now wanted to sell out as fast as possible, one critic said, because they could not afford to pay the huge ground rent.

To read the full NZ Herald story click here

Posted: 25 Mar 2009

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