A real estate agent and her husband were found to have flouted the foreign buyer ban. Photo / Getty Images
A real estate agent and her husband flouted the foreign buyer ban by buying three Auckland residential properties for foreigners without seeking consent, according to a decision.
A High Court ruling said real estate agent Jin [known as Daisy] Ouyang and her husband Jie Xie admitted breaches of the Overseas Investment Act.
Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand (Linz) said in a statement issued on Wednesday that the court ordered the couple to pay penalties for breaching the Overseas Investment Act by acquiring properties as associates of overseas persons: one in China, the other in Hong Kong.
“Following a Linz investigation, it was found that the pair had each entered into arrangements to purchase properties on behalf of overseas persons without consent. Three different companies were used to buy two of the properties with penalties awarded against each of them.
“The penalties so far amount to nearly $1m, with a further penalties hearing next year for properties that have not yet been sold,” a statement from Linz said.
The couple admitted wrongdoing and have been ordered to sell the properties that were acquired without consent.
In 2019, Ouyang bought a unit in Grafton in her own name while her mother Liping Ouyang of China agreed to contribute the total purchase price to buy the property.
Ouyang and her husband agreed to pay the cost of recladding the property and once that was done, they would either rent or sell the property, with the profits split between the mother and daughter.
Quyang still owns the property.
Under the law, Quyang was considered to be an associate of a foreign buyer but no application was made for consent to buy the Auckland apartment.
The mother lives in Shanghai.
In early 2019, Xie of New Zealand and Ling Ngai Lok of Hong Kong agreed they would purchase properties in New Zealand to undertake residential development.
Xie would purchase the properties through a company of which he would be the sole shareholder and director with Lok contributing 60% and Xie 40% of the funds for the development.
Profits would be shared evenly.
In October 2019, the pair agreed to purchase a property in St Johns, Auckland.
It was initially bought by a company set up by Xie called New Life Group and then acquired by another company called Hermosa Casa, also set up by Xie.
Lok contributed $416,000 to the purchase price of the St Johns property and Ouyang’s mother put in $597,700 with the balance of the funds coming from a bank loan guaranteed by Xie.
The property was sold in January 2022 for $3.5 million.
A second property was bought in Mission Bay in October 2019 by New Life Group and then transferred to Bella Casa – another company set up by Xie.
This time, Lok contributed $540,000 to the purchase price with the rest of the funds coming from a loan guaranteed by Xie.
Bella Casa still owns the Mission Bay property and is close to completing a residential development there, the court decision said.
To avoid triggering the Overseas Investment Act, Xie and his partner used companies that concealed the overseas buyer’s involvement.
Ouyang knew from her training and experience as a real estate agent that the Overseas Investment Act restricted the ability of overseas persons to invest in sensitive land in New Zealand and that the act had been amended to impose additional restrictions on overseas persons purchasing residential property, the decision said.
Ouyang was given credit for admitting liability.
Xie’s counsel said that the man’s knowledge and understanding of the law was problematic and argued that should be viewed as mitigating his breaches of the law.
Yet the decision said Xie deliberately concealed Lok’s involvement.
“When applying for the bank loan to purchase the ... property, Mr Xie falsified bank statements to support his statement of income and he falsely told his solicitors that the source of funds for the purchase was personal family funds and the bank loan,” the decision from Justice James MacGillivray said.
Xie and Lok decided that Lok would not be a shareholder in the companies because Xie believed this would trigger Overseas Investment Office “procedures”.
Hermosa Casa was fined $709,100, Xie was fined $157,500, Ouyang $67,500 and New Life $37,500, the penalties totalling $971,600.
A penalty hearing relating to Bella Casa was adjourned until after the sale of the Mission Bay property.
Ouyang and Bella Casa were ordered to sell the Grafton and Mission Bay properties and have been given until March 31 next year to do so.
The Real Estate Authority register shows Daisy Ouyang is a Harcourts agent, first licensed in 2015.
She currently works for Infinite Real Estate, which trades as Harcourts Newmarket, but was not working for Harcourts at the time of the offending.
Harcourts managing director Bryan Thomson said: “We were not made aware of this breach, which occurred prior to her time at Harcourts. We are now undertaking a formal review of the agent’s employment.”
Ouyang told the Herald the events took place some time ago.
She was no longer married to Xie.
“I didn’t know I broke the law,” she said.
Asked if she had paid the fine, she said her solicitor had advised her to sell the Auckland unit and pay the fine from the proceeds.
“The High Court has closed the case,” Ouyang said.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald‘s property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.