The failed Bella Vista Homes development resulted in some houses incomplete and others removed from the site. Photo / File
The failed Bella Vista Homes development resulted in some houses incomplete and others removed from the site. Photo / File
Just how much as the failed Bella Vista Homes development cost the city council in court-related costs? Here is the current total.
Tauranga City Council has spent more than $1.4 million in court-related costs over the failed Bella Vista Homes development.
At least another $63,000 has been accrued through legalaid for two of the defendants involved in the court case, and final invoices are yet to be filed.
On March 16, the court case involving Tauranga City Council's prosecution of Bella Vista Homes Limited, The Engineer Limited, their respective directors Danny Cancian and Bruce Cameron, and bricklayer Darrel Joseph began. However, the judge-alone trial was postponed to June 29 when it resumed following the national Covid-19 lockdown.
Evidence for the case wrapped on July 27 and Judge Paul Mabey QC is yet to make and release his reserved decision, expected later this year.
In figures obtained by the Bay of Plenty Times Weekend through an official information request, council democracy services manager Coral Hair said the total cost of prosecution, as of August 24, was $1,441,584.
This figure comprised of legal fees of $807,458; prosecutors' fees of $262,556; and expert witness fees of $371,569. All figures were GST exclusive.
The council was also asked to include any court case-related costs over $100; how much money was spent on reports into the Bella Vista development, where the money for court costs and reports was funded from; and how much of these costs broke down to for each ratepayer.
Former Bella Vista Homes director Danny Cancian has been using legal aid to defend himself in court. Photo / File
Under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act, which the request was made under, the council was given 20 working days to respond.
Hair said the council required extra time to collate and organise the information and would provide this as soon as it was available.
Ministry of Justice manager of legal aid services Tracey Baguley confirmed Cancian and Joseph were each granted legal aid but there was no active legal aid grant or application for Cameron.
As of August 3, the cost of Cancian's legal aid bill was $38,282.35. The cost of Joseph's was $25,581.75.
These were not the final amounts, as further invoices could still be submitted, Baguley said.
There were many issues identified with the Bella Vista Homes development during the court case this year. Photo / File
Cancian told the Bay of Plenty Times Weekend the availability of legal aid was crucial and "made quite a big difference for me".
However, the money the council spent pursuing the case was, in his opinion, "ridiculous" compared to what the potential penalties could be.
Each charge of breaching the Building Act 2004 offers a maximum penalty of $200,000, and in the case of a continuing offence a further fine of $10,000 for every day during which the offence has continued.
"By the time they finish, it will be close to $2m that they've spent ... it doesn't add up," Cancian said.
"It's a huge amount of money."
Joseph could not be reached before publication.
Former Bella Vista homeowner Ron McDiarmid said the council's pursuit of the court case, and money spent on it, was in his view justified.
"If they did nothing, they would have been in the wrong. They couldn't sit back and do nothing," he said.
Another former homeowner, who would not be named, said the $1.4m was "a lot of money to spend...''
He said in his opinion: "No one is accepting responsibility and playing the blame game."
Tauranga mayor Tenby Powell says the council, as a Building Consent Authority, does have to take on an enforcement role. Photo / File
Tauranga mayor Tenby Powell said as a Building Consent Authority, the council occasionally did have to take on an enforcement role.
"That is always a last resort and we would prefer that our resources did not have to be used for prosecutions."
Powell that as the case was still before the courts, it would be inappropriate to comment further.
What is legal aid?
Legal aid operates on a system of fixed fees and maximum grants for services provided by legal aid lawyers. Fixed amounts are paid to lawyers for completing specific activities and as both Cancian's and Joseph's cases were under the fixed fees system, the ministry was unable to provide a breakdown of hours spent on cases.
