The Point, 121 Customs St West on Auckland's waterfront.
The Point, 121 Customs St West on Auckland's waterfront.
The Tenancy Tribunal has dismissed a $23,000 claim from the body corporate of Auckland waterfront Viaduct apartments The Point in a dispute with two unit owners over replacing a fire sprinkler.
Body Corporate 199318 sought that money from unit owners Michael Coutts and Manjit Kaur, after engaging a lawyer inthe dispute and then seeking that to cover costs.
“The body corporate claims $23,657.96 for its legal costs for having to instruct lawyers so it could rectify a sprinkler in the unit owners’ unit,” said the December decision from R Key.
Luxurious downtown waterfront living: The Point apartments, 121 Customs St West in Auckland. Photo / Ted Baghurst
The Point Apartments are in the Viaduct Harbour area of downtown Auckland and were built in about 1999-2000. There are 85 apartments and about 150 residents.
The apartments are spacious and luxury quality, the tribunal order noted and the body corporate was represented by Kalev Crossland, a partner of Sheiff Angland. Barrister Tim Rainey appeared for Coutts and Kaur.
Tim Rainey acted for the unit owners who triumphed in the tribunal.
About 85% of The Point units are occupied by their owners.
Coutts and Kaur own a fourth-level unit and two other units there but it was the level-four unit where the sprinkler fight ensued.
When they bought that unit, renovation work was done including adding a wooden ceiling with deep roof beams and a minimalist design domed sprinkler. The work was completed in accordance with a building consent. In 2015, Auckland Council issued it a code compliance certificate.
But in 2023, the body corporate’s fire safety compliance contractor found the sprinkler situated between the roof beams and said it needed to be rectified.
Coutts and Kaur asked the body corporate to explain why, saying the room had another sprinkler, the existing one was perfectly acceptable and did not need to be rectified.
Dispute was over a sprinkler within an apartment at The Point.
“The body corporate doubled down on this issue indicating the complex’s building warrant of fitness due in January 2024 was at risk,” the decision said.
Shieff Angland issued the unit owners a notice to fix which those owners consented to, once a short-term tenancy at their unit had ended.
The work was eventually done but the body corporate went to the tribunal last April for recompense.
The Point apartments, 121 Customs St West, face on to Auckland's waterfront. Photo / Sandra Mu, Getty Images
Crossland said the unit owners:
Failed to respond appropriately to clear professional advice on this significant issue;
Misconstrued advice from fire protection firm Aon and its Chris Mak;
Were unnecessarily adversarial;
Relied on the sprinkler having been given a CCC although that was unreasonable;
Resisted the body corporate’s efforts to ensure compliance and safety for disproportionately superficial aesthetic reasons.
But Rainey, for the owners, said although the body corporate repeatedly asserted there has been “wilful and negligent conduct”, it failed to prove that.
Rainey emphasised that Coutts and Kaur had an honestly held view and legitimately wished to challenge the need to alter the sprinkler.
The tribunal found correspondence did not show the owners were unnecessarily adversarial.
“The unit owners’ correspondence was intelligent and germane,” the decision said.
Rainey told the Herald the body corporate initially sought $63,706 and only cut it to $23,000 just before the hearing.
The Point apartments in Auckland's Viaduct Harbour.
‘Parties have history’
It is not the first dispute between the body corporate and the owners.
“The parties have history. The unit owners typically let their units out for short-term stays,” the decision said.
In September 2019, the body corporate adopted a rule that no owner or occupier may let, rent, or licence a unit for less than three months. Owners including Coutts and Kaur challenged the validity of that new rule.
Later that year, the tribunal found the new rule invalid and of no effect.
Another dispute surfaced in 2023 over the use of the name Point Residences, which the unit owners claimed the body corporate was trying to appropriate.
In the latest claim for legal fees over the sprinkler dispute, the tribunal said it was perfectly open and acceptable for the body corporate to instruct counsel.
But there was no fault by the unit owners.
The decision concluded: “The body corporate’s claim is dismissed.”
Apartment buildings built right next to boat berths of Viaduct Harbour in Auckland downtown.
Coutts and Kaur told the Herald the decision underscored the importance of proper governance, transparency, and accountability in body corporate management.
“While this has been an unnecessary and challenging ordeal, we are pleased that the adjudicator has dismissed the claims against us and recognised the facts for what they are,” they said.
On leasehold land
The Point is one of many apartment blocks on Viaduct Harbour Holdings’ leasehold land.
The area is home to some of the city’s best apartments, restaurants, bars and hotels and many are up for their next seven-yearly reviews soon.
Buildings like The Point apartments are on just over 20ha of land owned by the low-profile Viaduct Harbour Holdings (VHHL), which leases the land to the owners of those buildings, that article said.
The Point had an 80% leasehold fee rise, standing in a prime position. Its next seven-year rent review is due on October 2, 2026.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 24 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
