28 Ranui Road – demolition by neglect

28 Ranui Road is an art deco brick house from the late 1930s designed by Geoffrey Rix Trott with Horace Massey and was believed to have been built by Charles Ravenhall in 1937 with 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and 2 parking spaces. The property last sold for $2,950,000 in April 2017.

Under the Auckland Unitary Plan, it is zoned Single House with a Special Character Overlay: Historic Heritage and Special Character: Special Character Areas Overlay Residential and Business – Remuera, Residential Isthmus B.

According to Auckland Council’s Dangerous, Affected and Insanitary Buildings Policy 2021-2026, buildings, it needed to be assessed as to whether it was dangerous and insanitary.  The central compliance team revisited the property recently about it being potentially dangerous and in breach of the Property Maintenance and Nuisance Bylaw.

The council’s response was: “The building would not meet the definition of being dangerous or insanitary. The ground floor is boarded up with hex bolts through the door and windows nailed to prevent entry. The entrance way down the side of the building is also fenced off and would be hard to climb. There would be no access from the properties at the side or rear. The windows on the property are broken with glass on the floor allowing water to enter on the top, however there is no sign of access to the building at the current time. The front garden is unkept and is in need of tidying up, we will recommend that security fencing is erected on a temporary basis.”

Remuera Heritage queried the effect on the amenity of the zone for the neighbours and local community, as a council website says:

The purpose of the Single House Zone is to maintain and enhance the amenity values of established residential neighbourhoods. (Amenity values are the qualities of an area that make people enjoy living there or visiting it.) Amenity values might be created by things like historical character, special trees, coastal setting or “neighbourhood character”.

https://ourauckland.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/news/2016/09/what-are-zones/

However, the response was: “Unfortunately, under the Resource Management Act, there are no controls available to any council in New Zealand to tackle the issue of demolition by neglect by requiring property owners to carry out maintenance.

Council’s Property and Nuisance Bylaw only has very limited requirements for property owners to secure their properties from public access and does not take amenity into account, and the thresholds for meeting the definition of dangerous or unsanitary in the Building Act are very high.” Source: Auckland Council.