Auckland property: 26 Ormiston townhouse buyers face three-month settlement delay - DDL receivers

Some of the 26 townhouses at the DDL sites, Ormiston Rd, Flat Bush. Photo / Michael Craig

Buyers of 26 Flat Bush townhouses, in strife after a financier put two companies into receivership, have been told settlements will be three months late.

Neale Jackson, a joint receiver at Calibre Partners, told buyers of the almost-finished townhouses on Ormiston Rd that settlements due this month would be delayed till October.

"The sunset date under your sale agreement is currently July 22. Under the sale agreement, there is a right for the vendor to extend the sunset date by nine months under certain conditions.

"We are exercising this right because those conditions have been met and it is clear the sales cannot settle by the current sunset date," Jackson wrote.

DDL Homes Ormiston and DDL Homes Ormiston 2020 are in voluntary administration and receivership.

Vincent Capital appointed Calibre which controls 122 properties in four projects at 397 Ormiston Rd: 79 apartments under construction, 26 townhouses almost complete and 17 residential sections or sites where construction work is yet to begin.

All up, 105 homes are under construction in terraces and apartments, in varying stages of completion. The terraces are more advanced than the apartments and buyers said they looked almost finished when the receivers were appointed.

No possession till October - townhouse buyers must wait. Photo / Michael Craig

"We have now completed our initial review of the status of the development at 397 Ormiston Rd," Jackson wrote to the townhouse buyers this month.

"The key thing you need to know is that we expect your settlement date will be around the middle of October."

That was good news for many because it gave them hope of getting townhouses soon, despite the trouble and uncertainty they had endured lately.

But it did not entirely please one buyer who would have to pay thousands of dollars extra in rent due to the delays.

He said his townhouse would be nearly a year late if settlement did happen in October.

"DDL Estates promised me my townhouse would be ready in December 2021, then by late April/May, then in June," he complained to the Herald.

He sold his own home based on the settlement projections, so was disappointed in the string of delays.

Jackson wrote to the 26 townhouse buyers that code compliance certificates from Auckland Council were due to be issued and that was an important point in completing the process so buyers could settle.

Records of title had not yet been issued for the townhouses. Consultants retained by Calibre advised that all going to plan that could take another 13 weeks, Jackson said.

Before Calibre could apply to Land Information NZ for records of titles, Auckland Council needed to issue some documents, he said.

"We expect to be able to apply for these certificates soon and to then receive them from Auckland Council in around six weeks' time," Jackson told the townhouse buyers.

Buyers were advised to stay off the construction site. Photo / Michael Craig

Some minor physical works had to be completed to the 26 townhouses.

"We plan to have contractors complete this work while the council and LINZ complete the processing work," Jackson said.

"Based on those estimated timelines your settlement date would be around the middle of October."

Jackson cited a Herald article about caveats being registered against the titles to the development "with the suggestion this may delay settlement of the sale to you and other pre-sale purchasers. Before we were appointed as receivers, the caveats were lodged by some of the purchasers of the sections that are on the Makau Rd side of the development. We don't not expect the caveats to result in the mortgagee being unable to settle a sale with you."

Davenports' lawyer Nick Kearney last month noticed the caveats, some of which he said were with trade businesses.

Caveats were not normally registered by tradespeople like they were here, he said.

It was unusual that such parties would register a caveat against the title of the owner of the land they were working for.

Tradespeople usually formed part of the unsecured creditor list, he said, unless the land owner had agreed to it in the contract with the tradespeople.

Maison D'Ormiston housing development, Flat Bush. Photo / supplied

Caveats existing potentially put blocks between the developer and the home buyers.

DDL was the company which suffered damage to one of its Ormiston houses when a digger was used to almost demolish it.

DDL Homes Ormiston 2020 is owned by Harjit Singh Dheil of Redoubt Rd, Flat Bush. Dheil is also the sole director.

Dheil also owns DDL Homes Ormiston but that company's sole director is Baljit Kaur Dheil.

Jared Booth of Baker Tilly Staples Rodway Auckland is voluntary administrator of the two DDL companies, appointed by a creditor claiming $239,000.

Meanwhile, Calibre Partners this month also released their latest report on the nearby housing scheme, Ormiston Rise Development (in receivership and liquidation).

That was a separate project from the DDL.

Neale Jackson and Grant Graham's third Ormiston Rise Development report came out on July 6.