By Nick Perry
housing reporter
AUCKLAND - Angry Freemans Bay homeowners want to sue the Auckland City Council for breach of promise, following the decision to end open-market sales of the council's housing stock.
The council has voted 11-7 to keep the 89 non-pensioner units it had not already earmarked for sale to
other housing agencies, ending months of uncertainty.
It also decided to continue negotiations to sell a further 136 houses, flats and units to Housing New Zealand and two community housing groups.
The decision came as a partial victory for a tenants' group, which told a council meeting last night how one tenant had committed suicide after hearing his home would be put up for sale.
After the meeting, a homeowners' representative, Felicity Lynch, said she was very disappointed some councillors had changed sides.
As well as planning legal action, owners would urge the council to reconsider.
She earlier told councillors a decision to keep the properties would be "neither principled nor ethical."
But a spokesman for the Tenants' Action Group, Peter Cross, said homeowners need not fear council tenants.
In 22 years he could remember the police being called just twice - once to a burglary, and once when his neighbour killed himself.
He said ideally the group would like the council to keep all the units, but he urged them not to sell the remaining 89. He broke down as he pleaded, "We are asking, we are asking, don't sell our homes."
The council decided to continue negotiations to sell 52 houses and flats to Housing New Zealand, 59 units to the Auckland Housing Association and 25 units to the Community of Refuge Trust.
An association spokeswoman, Kimberley Smith, said it was the first group of local government tenants in the country to start its type of cooperative arrangement.
"There will always be people who, because of age, disability or unfortunate life circumstances, will not be able to qualify for mortgages ... Give us an opportunity to offer the remaining tenants the chance to purchase under the association's structure."
