Call to speed up settlements

Owners of properties affected by the Waterview Connection Project route last night called for speedy sale negotiations before their assets lost further value.

"I want to know now what they want," said Blockhouse Bay Rd resident Con Micallef, who owns four properties bordering the proposed motorway.

"We have been waiting for seven years ... you can't sell on the market, especially now."

A resident for 35 years, he said the agency bought an empty section from him about four years ago for a future road. "It was a fair market price for the time."

But last night he was concerned that the Transport Agency could not tell him whether they required a portion of, or all, his properties.

"Their property acquisitions people say they will contact me as soon as the route is finalised."

Last night, other residents said they were anxious for certainty from the agency after many years of false starts.

"We've lived here 30 years and I found out about a proposed motorway from a fellow when I was waiting for the bus 12 years ago," said Blake Andrewes, of Hendon Ave.

"And nothing has happened since."

Mr Andrewes and his wife Lorraine said the agency had bought and removed three houses which were behind them and nearer to a proposed railway corridor which will now be used for the motorway.

He said their home might be affected because of the tunnelling method proposed: "They knock everything off the top, dig a trench and put a lid on it.

"It's nice of them to save the park and Oakley Creek but it seems to be used as tip. I'd rather they saved the houses."

Mr Andrewes said residents' property values were affected when homes next door were bought by the state and then let out to tenants and property maintenance was poor.

A real estate agent in the Mt Albert area, Anne Duncan, said: "It's certainly made houses hard to sell and, in some instances, has compromised the price.

"If we selling anything in the zone we tell people that they need to check with the transport agency website."

Ms Duncan said that in cases where she had been involved in sales to the transport agency, she believed the vendor received full market value.

"As far as the motorway is concerned, bring it on. So many people have been waiting, waiting and its stifling businesses. Certainty will be good for everybody."

Tim McCabe, of Sheldons Valuers, said owners approached by the transport agency should get their own property valuation. "It's paid for by the agency," he said.

Any dispute over the correct market value was settled by valuers acting for the vendor and the Crown.

Mr McCabe said prices of homes in the motorway zone ranged from $300,000 to $500,000.

The transport agency said yesterday it owned 126 of those homes, including 20 Housing New Zealand properties in the northern Waterview area.

Agency chief executive Geoff Dangerfield yesterday promised "one-on-one engagement" with affected property owners.

He said there would also have to be recompense for the strata titles of 111 houses where a tunnel is to go underneath homes.