The Arney Road, Remuera property seen in September 2024.
The Arney Road, Remuera property seen in September 2024.
A buyer who won the right to cancel a $10 million Auckland mansion purchase after a deadly landslide made the property unsafe has been awarded more than $175,000 in costs.
A High Court ruling in March allowed Ningfei Du to walk away from the ASP (agreement for the sale andpurchase) of the Arney Rd, Remuera home and have his $1m deposit refunded.
Du won the $10.6m home at auction in 2022, putting down a 10%, or $1.06m, deposit.
But three days before settlement – when Du would have had to pay the full $10.6m purchase price – Auckland’s January 2023 storms hit, sending a landslide tumbling out from under the property.
The slip crashed down the cliff-face into a house on Shore Rd, killing Museum of Transport and Technology volunteer David Lennard.
The property, owned by David Youn and Miji Sunwoo, was given a red placard by authorities, indicating the house was too damaged to enter.
They contacted their insurers and tried to arrange for the sale to go ahead, but a little over a month later, in March, Du officially cancelled the deal.
Ningfei Du was allowed to walk away from the ASP (agreement for the sale and purchase) of this Arney Rd property after it was given a red placard by authorities following the Auckland Anniversary storms. Photo / Michael Craig
The vendors claimed Du was in breach of the contract and refused to return the deposit.
A High Court decision found Du was “fully entitled ... to cancel the ASP [agreement for the sale and purchase]”.
Earlier this month, Justice Gerard van Bohemenruled Du should be awarded costs of $78,511.50, comprising 2B costs with an uplift of 50% on costs incurred after May 2024, and disbursements of $96,850.87.
The decision was largely centred around the defendants’ rejection of a Calderbankoffer from Du and law firm Glaister Ennor on March 22, 2024.
A Calderbank offer is a formal offer to settle a legal dispute which can’t be used in court, apart from when deciding the legal costs if the offer is unreasonably refused.
Van Bohemen said he was satisfied the defendants’ rejection of the Calderbankoffer was without reasonable justification.
“I am also satisfied that an uplift of 50% on scale costs incurred by Du after the defendants’ rejection of that offer is appropriate and properly reflects the defendants’ conduct in prolonging the proceeding and causing Du to incur unnecessary expense,” van Bohemen said in the decision.
The Herald previously reported that Youn and Sunwoo had commissioned $1.1m in remedial works to make the land and home safe again and had put the home back on sale in September last year.
The 2023 Auckland Anniversary downpours dumped record rainfall on the city and caused widespread flooding, slips and mass road closures.
