No more ground rent for owners

Land at one of New Zealand's largest high-density housing estates has been converted from leasehold to freehold title.

Beaumont Partners, directed by Auckland developer Nigel McKenna, has sold land at the 258-unit Beaumont Quarter estate opposite Victoria Park.

The property featured after annual ground rent fees rose from $900,000 to $3.1 million. So the townhouse owners and a business have completed the legal process of buying the large plot.

Companies Office records show vendor Beaumont Partners is owned by many parties including Beaumont Trustee Company, Bayley Corporation of 4 Viaduct Harbour Ave, Martyn Reesby of Remuera's 118 Victoria Ave and Augusta Funds Management of 35 Chancery St.

Beaumont will not get any more ground rent.

Townhouse owners in the 2.2ha on the fringes of central Auckland said the days of paying leasehold ground rent fees were over.

Neville Corbett, chairman of Beaumont Quarter Residents Society, said all the units and carparks now had individual freehold titles.

But Corbett said not every unit owner had bought the land.

"A majority of the owners have taken up their own freehold titles with the balance of the freehold titles being with Innovus (Beaumont). The remaining leasehold owners have a one-year period to either purchase their freehold title from Innovus, sell on the freehold market without having to fund the freehold with the purchaser settling directly with Innovus, or remain as a leasehold owner." Ulf Behncke, the on-site complex manager, would carry on with the campaign to improve the common areas of the complex, Corbett said.

"You can assist by keeping your courtyards and decks in a clean and tidy condition," he told residents.

Apartments in the quarter were selling at low prices, a problem real estate agents blamed on big ground rent payments which made renting units an uneconomic option for investors.