Property developer Reed Myers offers 'opportunity' to leave troubled project

Friday, 17 June 2022

Reed Myers says its development at Triangle Rd has not been cancelled, but it is offering people a way out.

A development linked to three-times bankrupt Peter Chevin is offering buyers an opportunity to withdraw or move their investments.

Reed Myers said its development at West Auckland’s Triangle Rd has not been cancelled, but acknowledged it is offering buyers there “the opportunity to move to an alternative project”.

Some buyers have spent nearly two years waiting for building work to start at Triangle Rd.

They later found out the contractors they thought were building their homes were working on a different project for a different company.

* The first-home dreams shattered by failed promises and finger-pointing

* How thrice-bankrupt property developer Peter Chevin ended up living in luxury in a $2m house

* Reed Myers homeowners think their homes are being built - they are wrong

Robert Hucker, a principal with law firm Hucker and Associates, released a statement on behalf of Reed Myers and said the delays were because of a “disagreement” with the company that owns the land and noted “the conclusion of this matter is someway off”.

Serious allegations are being levelled around a housing development that's badly behind schedule.

“Reed Myers does not see the Triangle Project as being cancelled.”

Hucker said some buyers had chosen to withdraw their investments, but the Triangle Rd project – known as “The Rise” – was listed as “sold out” on the developer’s website at the time of publication.

He said this had not been changed because “when the Reed Myers website was last updated, it was sold out”.

Some buyers at Triangle Rd have already spent thousands of dollars in legal fees getting their deposits back.

Three-times bankrupted developer Peter Chevin has been linked to Reed Myers and its developments.

The lawyer for one buyer, Oscar Ward – who represented a buyer called Paul Brown – argued that Reed Myers had no way of carrying through with the contract because it did not have a written agreement with the company that owned the land.

In response, Lauren Johnston of Vodanovich Law acting for Reed Myers replied: “Deposit has now been repaid”.

Hucker said Reed Myers was exploring options for people to withdraw from their unconditional sales contracts on Reed Myers projects if they were able to find another buyer to take their place.

“Simply wanting to withdraw for no valid reason is not acceptable.”

The Reed Myers development at Red Hills Rd is the subject of abatement notices from Auckland Council.

One alternate project on offer from Reed Myers is a development in West Auckland where the developer is locked in an argument with Auckland Council over whether any residential construction work is taking place.

Auckland Council issued two abatement notices in April over apparent earthworks going on at the site.

Reed Myers sent a response to Auckland Council arguing no earthworks related to residential construction were taking place, and that the work going on there was “forestry harvesting activity”.

Activities to support this would not require a resource consent at that site.

However, work on a residential development the size Reed Myers have taken deposits for, would require a consent.

Reed Myers argues only forestry harvesting work is being done at the Red Hills site.

The council officer who filled out the abatement notice at Red Hills noted two places where he believed earthworks were taking place, including one where a road had been excavated and filled with a road base of crushed concrete.

“Such a contravention is an offence,” the officer wrote on the abatement notice.

Reed Myers could start work on the construction of new homes if it had a valid resource consent.

A spokeswoman for Auckland Council said they were currently investigating the Red Hills site and could not comment while their investigation was underway.

“Auckland Council has consulted with a specialist forestry consultant, and we are considering any action that needs to be taken based on their advice.”

However, Reed Myers said in a statement that it had not filed for a resource consent because “the activities on site are not earthworks”.

George Tyler, who has put down a deposit for a house at Red Hills, said he did not have a problem with forestry harvesting going ahead – as long as it was a way of splitting the RMA process into “bite sized chunks”.

However, he was sceptical the project would be completed on time, and would not rule out the whole thing ending up in a similar situation to Triangle Rd.

The landowner at Triangle Rd says he ended Reed Myers involvement last year.

“Upfront, my lawyer suggested buying like this was a gamble.”

Tyler said he was only willing to take the gamble because he was not “desperate” to buy a house.

Stuff has reported on two Reed Myers developments, an allegation by a former director of the company that it iscontrolled by Chevin, and an investor in Reed Myers who managed to get the court to freeze his funds to prevent them being spent.

Chevin is not currently bankrupt but has had four bankruptcy proceedings brought against him (one was later annulled), and acquired several convictions along the way, including on nine charges related to the theft of public funds in 2016.

Reed Myers has denied the allegation that Chevin runs the company and has said Chevin is a resource management consultant for the company who occasionally consults on other matters.

The half-owner of the company that owns the land at Triangle Rd, Eddie Simpson, said he bought the land in an attempt to recover a loan he made to Chevin.

However, he alleged Chevin wasn’t able to pay, so he pressed ahead with his own plans for it.

While Reed Myers was promoting its developments at Triangle Rd and Red Hills Rd, one of their “shelf” companies attempted to purchase the home Chevin would eventually live in.

The organisation didn’t follow through with settlement by the agreed deadline - an experience the vendor at the time said was traumatic.

A company owned by prominent real estate agent Martin Cooper settled the sale and Chevin rented the house off him.