Yong Xin Chen forfeited this $2.1 million bungalow at 21 Maungakiekie Ave after her annual ground rent rose from $8300 to $73,750. Photo / Greg Bowker
The high-profile case against the owner of a $2.1 million Auckland house who abandoned her property after leasehold payments skyrocketed from $8300 annually to $73,750 begins in the High Court at Auckland this morning at 10am.
In 2005, Yong Xin Chen bought the big bungalow at 21 Maungakiekie Ave, on
the edge of Cornwall Park, for $450,000. But the 1297sq m site is owned by the Cornwall Park Trust Board, which charges residents ground rents, so she owned only the house but not the land.
She bought knowing she had to pay ground rent. But just three years later, the board wrote to tell her the rent was rising in accordance with the terms of the lease, which has a 21-year review period.
It said that based on the property's valuation, the ground rent would rise from $8300 a year to $73,750 from March 2009.
She baulked at that huge increase and eventually left the house, but now the board is chasing her for $348,284 in unpaid leasehold fees, renovation costs and expenses.
