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Fourth company fined in illegal property management ring
Jazial Crossley | Wednesday November 18 2009 - 03:40pm
A fourth property management company has been found guilty of breaching the Fair Trading Act, by duping Invercargill tenants into believing they were buying their own home.
In the Invercargill District Court today, CMA Property Investments was fined $40,000.
It was also ordered to repay $42,290 to occupiers of properties who were misled to think their rent was going towards buying a house in a payment scheme that was to span 30 years.
The company is also out of pocket $1040 in court costs and $1600 in solicitor’s costs.
“The occupiers did not believe that they were getting involved in a ‘rent to buy’ scheme. They thought that the agreements that they entered into gave them all the normal rights associated with buying a house,” Commerce Commission fair trading director Adrian Sparrow said.
“This was not the case, as the legal title to the houses remained with the property management companies. The occupiers would not have owned their own homes until the end of the 30-year period.”
The tenants were paying weekly principal, interest, taxes, insurance and rates and repairs.
In August 2009, three further companies associated with the scheme were fined.
Invercargill Property Management was fined $38,500 and ordered to pay $25,000 in reparation, Newfoundland was fined $13,500 and told it needed to pay $10,955 in reparation while Southern Housing Corp was fined $10,500 plus $5000 in reparation.
CMA Property Investments director Christopher Ashenden is also director of Auckland Home Buyers and the Home Finance Company.
Jazial Crossley | Wednesday November 18 2009 - 03:40pm
A fourth property management company has been found guilty of breaching the Fair Trading Act, by duping Invercargill tenants into believing they were buying their own home.
In the Invercargill District Court today, CMA Property Investments was fined $40,000.
It was also ordered to repay $42,290 to occupiers of properties who were misled to think their rent was going towards buying a house in a payment scheme that was to span 30 years.
The company is also out of pocket $1040 in court costs and $1600 in solicitor’s costs.
“The occupiers did not believe that they were getting involved in a ‘rent to buy’ scheme. They thought that the agreements that they entered into gave them all the normal rights associated with buying a house,” Commerce Commission fair trading director Adrian Sparrow said.
“This was not the case, as the legal title to the houses remained with the property management companies. The occupiers would not have owned their own homes until the end of the 30-year period.”
The tenants were paying weekly principal, interest, taxes, insurance and rates and repairs.
In August 2009, three further companies associated with the scheme were fined.
Invercargill Property Management was fined $38,500 and ordered to pay $25,000 in reparation, Newfoundland was fined $13,500 and told it needed to pay $10,955 in reparation while Southern Housing Corp was fined $10,500 plus $5000 in reparation.
CMA Property Investments director Christopher Ashenden is also director of Auckland Home Buyers and the Home Finance Company.
