Two high-profile Aucklanders charged over swimming pool fences and another over vineyard construction.
Three high-profile Aucklanders have appeared before the courts on a range of building-related charges.
Last week Cable Bay Vineyards owner Loukas Petrou appeared in the Auckland District Court on charges related to allegedly unauthorised construction work at the Waiheke winery.
Tony Iro.
This week, former Kiwi league star and Warriors assistant coach Tony Iro and his partner Harriet admitted the swimming pool at their St Heliers home was not appropriately fenced between mid-March and the end of April.
Finance powerhouse Mark Francis and his wife Fleur face an identical charge, also prosecuted by Auckland Council, in relation to their Remuera home.
Mark Francis.
Francis, managing director of Augusta Group, and Iro could each be liable for $500 fines and subsequent additions of $50 for each day a fence is not erected.
Petrou faces seven charges - the most serious of which carry a maximum penalty of a $200,000 fine.
Building work was allegedly completed at his lavish Waiheke vineyard without consent and court documents say the work did not stop even when a direction was issued to that effect.
The most recent charge alleged the unauthorised removal of a roof from a pizza oven building at The Verandah, a restaurant onsite which looks out over the Hauraki Gulf.
It is an "irresistible place to while away a few hours in style, luxury and comfort", according to the company's website.
A vineyard representative said Petrou was on holiday in Europe and would be difficult to get hold of for comment. Francis was not immediately available for comment.
Iro said he accepted wrongdoing and realised a fine was inevitable.
"I'll cop that," he said.
The reason the pool was not appropriately fenced, Iro said, was because of major renovations at the property.
"I could've done it if I didn't have the driveway all dug up and diggers around the back ... it's a bit of a war zone," he said.
"But it was a bit of an oversight on my behalf."
Auckland Council manager of compliance Barry Smedts said the council had prosecuted 17 swimming pool owners in the past two years and that people were given "every reasonable opportunity" to fence off pools.
"Most owners quickly do so," Mr Smedts said.
"However, where owners delay or refuse to undertake work on their fence, council's only option is a prosecution under the act."
Iro and Francis will next appear in court at the end of next month while Petrou - who is charged alongside an Ellerslie company - will be back in August.
