By Marty Sharpe of 
Peter van de Wiel at his Parnell City Lodge, which he has owned since 2010. Photo: Stuff / Ricky Wilson
The owner of a lodge used for emergency housing in Parnell has been told to vacate the property after defaulting on his land lease, which the Anglican Diocese of Auckland increased from $120,000 to $395,000 a year.
The owner, Peter Van De Wiel, 78, who now owes more than $1 million in arrears, says a High Court ruling requiring him to leave the land is unfair, and he is vowing to stay, despite having no guests and no real prospect of paying the debt.
The land beneath Parnell City Lodge is owned by the Diocese.
The two-storey Edwardian style residence in the heart of Parnell, built in 1914 and later converted to a 21-room accommodation/apartment complex, has been owned and managed by Wiel, 78, who lives on site.
The lodge became the source of complaints and concerns by locals after it began providing emergency housing accommodation in mid-2018.
Parnell City Lodge is on the corner of Parnell Road and St Stephens Avenue in Parnell, Auckland. Photo: Stuff / Ricky Wilson
The Parnell Business Association annual report for 2018/19 said the impact had been immediate with "wave after wave of undesirable residents introduced into Parnell, who preyed on the retailers or loitered around hospo patrons" and "many of the residents have drug or drinking issues, are out on parole or demonstrate their expertise at petty crime within hours of arrival".
Van De Wiel holds a 21-year lease, with perpetual rights of renewal. The lease was most recently renewed in 2012 and was to be reviewed at seven-year intervals.
In September 2019, the diocese's general trust board served notice proposing a rent increase from $120,000 per year to $512,363.
Van De Wiel didn't accept the proposed rent increase and when agreement couldn't be reached the matter went to arbitration.
Van De Wiel didn't attend a hearing before an arbitral tribunal in November 2021, but provided written material.
The tribunal had evidence from the board's registered valuer who said the fair annual rent was $512,000.
The tribunal decided a fair annual rental from September 2019 would be $395,000.
But Van De Wiel kept paying rent at the old rate.
In June 2022, the board served Van De Wiel a notice of intention to cancel the lease, and advised him he owed $825,000 for the period from September 2019. If it wasn't paid within six weeks, the board would seek to cancel the lease without further notice.
Van De Wiel believed the award ordered by the tribunal was unenforceable.
The dispute went to the High Court and was heard by Justice Michael Robinson in March last year. He delivered his judgment last month.
Robinson found little merit in Van De Wiel's arguments, and said the rent had been reviewed and determined in accordance with the lease and Van De Wiel was obliged to pay it.
Robinson found no grounds for granting relief against cancellation of the lease, and noted that Van De Wiel owed more than $1m in arrears.
While Van De Wiel had provided an affidavit outlining steps he'd take to ensure the rent was paid, he "does not seriously suggest that those steps will be sufficient to remedy the default by paying arrears".
He granted the board's application for an order to possess the 1051sqm property and to cancel the lease.
He ordered Van De Wiel to pay rent of $395,000 per year from September 2019 until he vacated the property, and to pay his half share of the arbitration tribunal costs ($31,150).
Van De Wiel was unhappy with the decision and on Tuesday told Stuff he wouldn't be leaving the property.
"I've been here for 15 years, and I've paid the rent agreed in 2012. They don't want to abide by the lease, they want to cut me out. They're telling me that I have to pay this new lease that they've made up with their valuers," he said.
He said he had found a buyer for the business about three years ago, but the sale was stymied by the board, which didn't want the lease extended because it had plans to build a multi-storey office block on the site.
He said he paid the former owner of the building and lodge business $1.5m in 2010 and was still paying a mortgage.
Van De Wiel said the business had been profitable until Covid-19.
"We are only looking after the poor and the homeless usually. People who have nowhere else to go. But that's come to an end because Work and Income don't seem to want anyone staying here any more," he said.
The lodge does not have any tenants at present. Photo: Stuff / Ricky Wilson
He said the lodge had no lodgers at present and the last people staying there, a couple, left last week without paying.
Asked what he intended to do now, Van De Wiel said "Well, I can't stand on my head and sing 'Danny Boy', can I? I'm a bit old for that".
"I've paid up to the middle of this year. I'm not going to move. Why should I? I bought this place as an investment for my retirement. I just want to stay here a few years. When the lease expires I'll be 104 and won't have to worry about it," he said.
A spokesman for the board said it would not comment while the judgment was still in the appeal period.
Ministry of Social Development regional commissioner Jules Lynch said the lodge was not a current supplier of emergency housing.
This story was first published by Stuff.
