Auckland Council is preparing to forcibly sell a Freemans Bay cafe and Grey Lynn home whose owner has notched up nearly $900,000 in unpaid rates - the city’s largest-ever outstanding bill.
Dilip Kumar Rupa has been embroiled in a protracted and acrimonious standoff with city officials - refusing to pay rates on the two family-owned properties for years.
The Herald can reveal he was convicted and fined $1500 after a trial held in his absence in 2022. Judge Stephen Bonnar KC ruled Rupa “held strong views” about the legality of the provisions and had deliberately failed to comply.
“He was making a deliberate decision to fail to display a QR code because he fervently believed that the legislation was either not legitimate or was a breach of his rights.”
Dilip Rupa, from Rupa's Cafe in Freemans Bay, could lose his house and businesses over his refusal to pay nearly $900,000 in overdue rates. Photo / Dean Purcell
In 2021, the Herald reported Auckland Council was applying to the High Court for a forced rating sale of Rupa’s Cafe on Wellington St in Freemans Bay and the family’s Grey Lynn home, after the combined outstanding rates bill ballooned to $350,000.
It can now be revealed the amount has soared to $876,623.65 - $662,179.06 for the cafe and $214,444.59 for the family home - the city’s biggest-ever outstanding rates and penalties debt.
Information released under the Official Information Act shows the council first filed District Court proceedings over the two properties in February 2020 due to non-payment of rates.
The case was transferred to the High Court. which issued a judgment and charging orders later that year, calculating the combined amount owed and “compelling” the owner to settle the debt.
“Between 2020 and late 2022, the property owner continued to object to paying their rates,” resulting in the council filing a rating sale application in March last year.
The case was delayed due to procedural issues and a requirement for separate judgments for each property, rather than a combined amount. The council is now preparing to re-submit a rating sale application once necessary paperwork is completed.
Auckland Council is applying for a High Court order to forcibly sell this Grey Lynn home to recoup nearly $900,000 in unpaid rates. Photo / Michael Craig
If successful, it will be only the second time Auckland Council has forcibly sold a private house to recoup unpaid rates.
The Herald sought comment from Rupa but he did not respond.
The council’s chief financial officer Ross Tucker said he could not discuss details of the case “out of respect for the privacy of our debtors and the various stages we’re at with their rates arrears process”.
He encouraged anyone with concerns about paying their rates to contact the council as early as possible.
“Taking strong action, such as initiating court processes, is very much a last resort.
“We are acutely aware of the financial pressures on households and businesses right now, and can work with ratepayers on ways to pay their rates without incurring penalties or getting behind.”
Eleventh-hour reprieve for ramshackle Ōtara property
This Guthrey Place, Ōtara house has outstanding rates and penalties totalling more than $300,000, which the council is now working with the family to manage. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Last month, Auckland Council was preparing to auction a private home in Ōtara over an unpaid rating debt of $317,000.
Attempts over eight years to contact the owner to arrange a repayment plan and stave off the Guthrey Pl house’s forced rating sale had proved futile. No rates had been paid on the property in 19 years.
However, following coverage of the looming auction in the Herald, relatives of the owner contacted the council from Australia and the sale process was abandoned.
It emerged the owner, Joseph William Leef - had died. Relatives are now working with the council to manage the debt.
Other high-profile cases involving unpaid rates
Charlotte Marsh at her former home in Manurewa before it was forcibly sold by Auckland Council following her refusal to pay $12,000 in rates. Photo / Dean Purcell
Charlotte Hareta Marsh lost her home of 20 years in a 2015 court-ordered sale after failing to pay rates for nine years.
Despite repeated warnings, she refused to recognise the authority of Auckland Council and claimed to have paid her rates instead to the “rightful land owner” – Arikinui o Tuhoe.
At the time of the sale, Marsh owed more than $12,000 in rates and penalties and nearly $3000 in court costs.
Asked at the time if the council was being mean-spirited forcing Marsh from her home over a $12,000 debt, the council said it had to be fair to all ratepayers.
Penny Bright struck an 11th hour deal with Auckland Council to postpone her unpaid rates, halting a court-ordered sale of her Kingsland house. Photo / Brett Phibbs
The late activist Penny Bright’s 11-year refusal to pay rates nearly cost her her Kingsland home in the months before her death.
Bright, a colourful protester who spent much of her life holding Auckland Council to account, had disputed and refused to pay her rates, citing “the lack of transparency in council spending on private sector consultants and contractors”.
The council went to court to have Bright’s home forcibly sold to recoup tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid rates and penalties, and it was listed for sale in April 2017.
But in May that year, a deal was struck after Bright applied for a rates postponement, which was accepted by the council and the forced sale proceedings halted.
Lane Nichols is Deputy Head of News and a senior journalist for the New Zealand Herald with more than 20 years experience in the industry.
