The council will not pursue a forced sale of Rupa’s Cafe and two Grey Lynn homes.
Council chief financial officer Ross Tucker confirmed the settlement but details remain confidential.
Auckland Council has struck an 11th-hour settlement with a controversial cafe owner whose family owed a whopping nearly $1 million in overdue rates.
It means the council will no longer pursue a forced rating sale of Freemans Bay eatery Rupa’s Cafe and two Grey Lynnhomes owned by the Rupa family.
In September last year the Herald reported the council was preparing to take drastic action to recoup what had become the city’s largest-ever outstanding rates debt.
Dilip Kumar Rupa has been embroiled in a protracted and acrimonious standoff with city officials, refusing to pay rates on the family-owned properties for years.
He also became infamous as the first person to be prosecuted for failing to display Covid-19 QR codes during the coronavirus pandemic, eventually being convicted and fined $1500.
In 2021, the council was applying to the High Court for a forced ratings sale of Rupa’s Cafe and the family’s Grey Lynn home after the combined unpaid rates bill ballooned to $350,000.
By last year, that debt had exploded to $876,623.65 due to outstanding rates and penalties.
Dilip Rupa was prosecuted for not displaying a Covid-19 QR Code at Rupa's Cafe in Freemans Bay. Photo / Dean Purcell
The council was preparing a new rating sale application. If successful, it would have been only the supercity’s second-ever forced sale of a private house due to unpaid rates.
The Herald confirmed caveats or rating orders had been lodged by the council against the cafe and two private homes.
However, in a statement last week, council chief financial officer Ross Tucker confirmed a settlement had now been reached with the Rupa family regarding rates arrears on all three properties.
“The council is pleased to see this matter resolved, as taking strong action such as court processes, is very much a last resort.
“Due to confidentiality obligations in the agreement, we cannot disclose further details regarding the Rupa family settlement.”
Asked for comment on the settlement yesterday, Rupa said: “I’m not allowed to talk. Bye.”
The Auckland Council had been unable to contact the owners of this Guthrey Pl, Ōtara house to arrange payment of outstanding rates and penalties totalling more than $300,000. Photo / Jason Oxenham
The settlement comes only months after another forced rating sale, unrelated to the Rupa family, was averted at the last minute.
The council had been preparing to forcibly sell a ramshackle Ōtara house on Guthrey Pl in August last year over a rating debt of $317,000. No rates repayments had been made on the property in 19 years.
However, following coverage of the looming auction in the Herald, the owner’s relatives 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.
Council abandons enforcement proceedings over Herne Bay property
Meanwhile, looming enforcement action to recoup unpaid rates of $720,000 owed on two other properties, also unrelated to the Rupa family, has been suspended, the Herald has confirmed.
One of them was an “abandoned” Herne Bay property with a CV of $3.65m whose owners owed $127,857.36 as of September last year.
The council had filed an abandoned land application with the courts due to the rates being unpaid and attempts to contact the owner being unsuccessful.
The matter was headed for a hearing last year to determine whether the property could be sold.
However, Tucker said administrators had now been appointed to the deceased estate and the abandoned land application withdrawn.
“The council understands the property may eventually be sold.”
The other case involved a Wade Heads property with a CV of $770,000 and an unpaid rates bill of nearly $600,000.
The owner had sought a declaratory judgment with a hearing date set for March this year.
However, Tucker said a confidential settlement had been reached and proceedings discontinued.
The council said it was obligated to try to recover rates debts from property owners in fairness to other ratepayers.
Not every rating debt led to a rating sale, as most debts were either repaid, postponed or a payment plan entered into, before the rating sale stage was reached.
Lane Nichols is Auckland desk editor and a senior journalist for the New Zealand Herald with more than 20 years’ experience in the industry.
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