The final years of the late Sandra Rosolowski were consumed by what she alleged was a complex mortgage fraud that is now being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
The final years of the late Sandra Rosolowski were consumed by what she alleged was a complex mortgage fraud that is now being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
The home of a pensioner who was unaware a million-dollar mortgage had been registered over her property has been sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars less than its rateable value in a mortgagee sale.
The three-bedroom property on Woodlands Crescent in Browns Bay was last month advertised for saleby the BNZ and the Herald understands agreement has been reached to sell it for $1.05 million. The deal is expected to settle on April 26.
The home had been the residence of the late 75-year-old Sandra Rosolowski. In early 2021 she told the Herald she believed she had purchased the property mortgage-free and with cash in 2017, only to later find her name was not on the title and a $1.1m BNZ mortgage was registered against the property.
After missed payment penalties and fees, the sale leaves the bank more than $138,000 short, and even if the ownership dispute could be resolved Rosolowski's estate will be left with nothing.
Reports of what Rosolowski described as her "convoluted nightmare", supported by a complaint she made to police about Auckland businessmen Gerard and Chris Peters who allegedly arranged the transaction, prompted the Serious Fraud Office to open an investigation in April last year.
Rosolowski told the Herald last year that the property dispute had come to dominate her life and even left her shivering during winters. "Because I don't own the property I'm not allowed to alter anything with it, so I couldn't even get a heat pump," she said last year.
The SFO is understood to also be looking at a handful of similar property and mortgage deals in Auckland, as well as millions more in cash advanced to an offshore investment scheme.
Tyler Rosolowski, Sandra's only child, said the deal had wiped out his mother's major retirement asset, ruining the last years of her life, and her estate was likely to be left with nothing.
The sale price marks an unusual decline - during a historically buoyant property market - from the property's last sale in 2017 for $1.1m. Last year the home was given a rateable valuation of $1.5m.
Tyler Rosolowski says the mortgagee sale of his late mother's home was a "fire sale" and her estate will be left with "nothing". Photo / Jason Oxenham
Tyler Rosolowski said the recent "fire sale" had resulted in value being suppressed.
"This is probably the only house in Auckland which has not gained value in five years," he said, noting that even if there was a surplus, it would probably have flowed to a company structure connected to the Peters.
Tyler Rosolowski said he had tried occupying the home over the past year to prevent repossession by the bank, but his resilience had been ground down.
"I thought about sitting there in protest, but they've already won. I really would have thought the SFO would have stepped up and at least paused proceedings until justice could be rendered," he said.
Questions to the BNZ this week about the sale process and price achieved, and the ongoing criminal investigation, went unanswered. The bank last year told the Herald "we continue to work with relevant authorities to resolve this matter".
Through a spokesperson, the Serious Fraud Office would say only that: "An investigation relating to the affairs of Gerard Peters and others is ongoing".
Gerard Peters, understood to be overseas after departing New Zealand since 2019, did not respond to a request for comment.
He had achieved a small measure of international fame in 2015 after his $400,000 Lamborghini was towed after misusing a disabled parking spot at LynnMall. That car, and another five luxury vehicles including a Ferrari and a Rolls-Royce, were repossessed by finance company creditors in late 2020.
His brother Chris Peters strongly denied any wrongdoing and claimed prior Herald reporting had unspecified inaccuracies.
An investigator with Age Concern talked with Chris Peters in 2018 following complaints made by Sandra Rosolowski. In a letter to the pensioner, the investigator expressed concerns about the "complex financial arrangements" that had been made, which Chris Peters told her involved sending proceeds overseas.
Sandra Rosolowski's initial complaints to authorities had languished, with police spending more than a year investigating before referring the matter to the SFO, which in turn only picked up the case more than a year later following Herald reporting.
The home of the late Sandra Rosolowski on Woodland Crescent in Brown's Bay recently sold at mortgagee sale for $1.1m, substantially less than it's $1.5m RV. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Tyler Rosolowski said his experience over the past year trying to unpick his mother's finances, and grapple with fraud investigations and bank demands for repayment, had nearly broken him.
"I've always thought the judge of a society was how we look after the weakest members. I always thought New Zealand did that well, but my view of that has been shattered. We can't protect old people from having their biggest asset stolen, and their final years lived in fear and misery," he said.
