Trust selling home linked to Hotchin

A trust connected to Mark Hotchin is prepared to consider all serious offers for the Boat Shed Bay property. Photo / NZPA

A trust connected to former Hanover Finance boss Mark Hotchin is again trying to sell its luxury Waiheke Island property and doesn't have a fixed price in mind.

Hotchin is a beneficiary of the trustee company that owns the property, Boat Shed Bay, which is being offered for sale after more than a year off the market.

Matthew Smith, of Ray White Waiheke Island, said he and the director of the trustee company had held discussions with Mr Hotchin about the sale.

"We do have conversations from time to time to get advice on marketing and so forth because he knows the property better than anyone else," Mr Smith said.

He confirmed the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) had no freeze "whatsoever" on the property, which includes a five-bedroom home in 4ha grounds and just over 100m of beachfront.

Mr Hotchin is one of six Hanover directors and promoters who are being sued by the FMA over what it alleges are misleading or untrue statements made in finance company prospectuses.

Mr Smith said the property had gone to tender. "He [the trustee] doesn't want any preconceived ideas about what it's worth or what we expect. We just want people to put any offer in they think it's worth, he'll look at any serious offers."

Their intention was to see "what people are prepared to pay more than what he's prepared to let it go for so [we'll] just see what comes in".

He said the vendor did not want any prospective buyers to get caught up on the government valuation.

The resurgent property market led Mr Smith to believe there were more buyers out there than this time last year, but he was surprised it hadn't sold when it was last on the market.

"The market is picking up, he's made the decision he absolutely wants to sell it and the market certainly seems to be stronger than it was before, there's a whole new pool of buyers out there in the marketplace than there was a year, year and a half ago."

Since the first Boat Shed Bay advertisements appeared a week ago, Mr Smith said a few people had approached them, mainly asking for a price guide.

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Correction: In an earlier version of this story we reported the fact that a property on Waiheke Island owned by a trustee company of which Mr Hotchin is a beneficiary is for sale. Mr Hotchin has asked that we make it clear that the property is owned by a trust, not by Hotchin; that he is not the only beneficiary of the trust; and that all decisions concerning the sale and marketing of the property are being made exclusively by the trustee and not by Mr Hotchin.