Failure by owners of six houses in a Lower Hutt development to agree on body corporate policy saw the High Court appoint an independent administrator to make all body corporate decisions for an initial three year period, overriding infighting between residents.
Willing to take on the role was property manager Everything Body Corporate Ltd, based hundreds of kilometres away in Tauranga, charging a base annual fee of $4600 for admin costs plus an hourly rate for all other work.
Justice Gendall gave owners an opportunity to see sense and to achieve a working relationship; they can at any time apply to have this court-imposed administration terminated.
The property on White Lines West in Woburn consists of six single-storey standalone units built in the early 1980s with individual titles held under the Unit Titles Act.
Evidence was given of unit owners operating as though they were independent freehold owners: no body corporate meetings were held; no long-term maintenance plan drawn up; a suggested need for drainage inspection shelved; and one instance of an owner constructing a shed on what is common land owned by all.
The High Court was told of resident owner Adrienne Bremner seeking to bring order to this legal morass. Her efforts were met with combinations of indifference and hostility.
It took an application by her to the Tenancy Tribunal to force removal of the misplaced shed.
A 2022 residents meeting saw a majority of owners vote down a proposed long-term maintenance plan, with a decision not to set up a body corporate bank account.
Ms Bremner’s request for reimbursement of legal fees for the earlier Tenancy Tribunal application was voted down.
A further meeting three months later decided on a $16 body corporate weekly levy, payable by owners of each of the six properties. A dispute followed that this levy was not properly calculated according to the ownership interest of each.
Appointing Everything Body Corporate as administrator, Justice Gendall ruled the history of dysfunctional behaviour was such that an independent administrator be appointed to ensure Unit Titles Act rules are followed.
Between owners, most contentious was the need for and content of a long-term maintenance plan and associated funding.
The Unit Titles Act allows body corporate members by special resolution to decide not to establish a long-term maintenance fund.
There was no evidence that the owners considered this option, Justice Gendall said.
Bremner v. Body Corporate 51615 – High Court (19.08.25)
25.180