Auckland Council asked to review sale of its share in retirement units

Elderly owners of retirement flats in Auckland have asked local boards to step in and stall the Auckland Council selling its share in the units.

The 150 units across 14 villages in the city are part of council’s own-your-own home scheme set up in the 1970s for people aged over 65 – where council buys back the flats when owners vacate, then on-sells to a new owner, all at a discounted rate.

More than a third of the units are vacant and council agreed last year to sell its stake in the scheme to a like-minded provider, with its finance arm Eke Panuku overseeing the sale.

Pauline Sheddan bought a unit in Sandringham two years ago and represents a group of owners who want the sale reviewed.

She said a meeting with Eke Panuku was constructive but did not allay all their concerns, including that vacant units could be rented.

Sheddan has written to local board members, asking for them to stop the sale.

“The impact on the senior citizens, and their families, has been profound and exacerbated by the lack of communication,” she said.

“We all purchased into the scheme on the understanding we would be living with other senior citizens who had a vested interest in their property and we would not be subjected to the impact of transient rental tenants.”

Pauline Sheddan says at least seven of 35 units in the Sandringham block of council flats for elderly residents are unoccupied.
Photo: RNZ / Amy Williams

Auckland Council has repurchased more units than it has sold in recent years. More than a third of the 150 flats sit vacant, and the council has run out of funds to refurbish them.

Eke Panuku assets and delivery general manager Marian Webb earlier said it was seeking “an appropriate socially minded organisation” for the council’s share in the scheme.

A spokesperson for Eke Panuku said “expressions of interest drew significant interest from a variety of parties” and they could not provide more information because the sales process was commercially sensitive.

It is working with those who submitted proposals “to ensure they have the right intentions for the villages, the capability and commitment to uphold the required obligations and offer good value for council”, they said.

All homeowners would be able to remain in their home “with the assurance that all existing contractual obligations will remain until the homeowner, or their estate, decides they want to sell”, the spokesperson said.

A new purchaser would buy the unoccupied units, council’s equity stake and buy-back rights for the privately owned units.

“Any new purchaser will need to uphold the original intent of the scheme for those existing homeowners and be committed to making sure any new residents are compatible with older people and maintain the existing peace and quiet currently experienced in the villages,” an Eke Panuku spokesperson said.

Eke Panuku said it had kept in direct contact with homeowners in the scheme via letters, email and phone calls to keep them updated and had recently held meetings with the homeowners in each village in person to update them on the first stage of the sales process.