Multi-million dollar mansion might be tough sell

The spectacular home is linked to a bankrupt company director. Photo / Supplied

A multi-million dollar Auckland home linked to a bankrupt is on the market - but despite all its grandeur, it may not be the easiest place to shift.

The $8.4m valued home, on Herne Bay's exclusive Marine Parade, is registered as being owned by LTP Nominees, a company formerly run by bankrupt Alister Gordon Baird. He is still listed with the Companies Office as sole director of LTP Nominees, despite bankrupts not being able to be company directors. Baird says, however, he has resigned as director.

A Companies Office spokesman said a new director would need to be appointed before any sale.

"The house could only be sold if the company is put into receivership or liquidation or if the current shareholders or board members appoint a new director."

The Registrar of Companies has initiated action to remove LTP Nominees from the company register as they haven't filed an annual return.

When contacted by the Herald on Sunday in Mount Maunganui, Baird said he no longer had anything to do with LTP Nominees. An online Plaxo profile describes him as "real estate investor". When he was made bankrupt in July last year, his occupation was listed as heat-pump installer.

LTP Nominees is listed as having one shareholder, Morrison Creed Trustee Limited. Morrison Creed is a Palmerston North-based property investment adviser and chartered accountant. No one from the company could be contacted to say who was selling the property.

The Herne Bay home has a gourmet kitchen, four-car garage, all-weather tennis court and large butler's scullery. It is described as "incomparable" in a Trade Me listing by real estate agents Sotheby's.

"An open-tread staircase slices elegantly through the house to take you to ... a games room, home office suite, wine room and 1000-bottle cellar."

A pebbled path "meanders through landscaped gardens and beneath the boughs of ancient pohutukawa trees to the water's edge".

Sotheby's general manager Peter Newbold said tenders had closed. "We're not privy to who the parties are or how far down the track it is."