Auckland developer accused of selling unfinished homes in Helensville

By Ripu Bhatia, Stuff

A group of neighbours are frustrated after buying homes off the plans they claim were delivered behind schedule, unfinished and with additional costs.

Homebuyers on Rongomai Street in the Auckland suburb of Helensville say they have been left out of pocket by property development company Eco-Smart Homes and its director, Ritesh Mani, who was accused of similar behaviour by another homeowner in 2022.

But Mani says the Helensville project suffered serious setbacks which included, he says, a builder stealing more than $300,000 from him before leaving the country.

He says he is working on solutions that will see homeowners looked after, but disagreements persist over construction delays and water connection payments.

Amit Kumar

Amit Kumar bought a home and land package from Eco-Smart Homes in June 2022.

A payment for the land was made up front, and the rest of the payments were to be done in steps for different stages of the construction.

But work on the home didn't start until ten months later, Kumar says. He complied with six out of seven payment instalments, but says the home remains unfinished - including landscaping and flooring work still to be done.

The final payment is for when the home has received a code compliance certificate, a process that has been held up. Kumar has not been able to communicate directly with Mani since May.

Mani conceded there were remedial works still remaining on Kumar's home, and hoped his company would be able to fix the outstanding issues soon. He said $20,000 had been paid to Kumar as compensation for the delays.

There was also harsh disagreement over the placement of a watertank in the centre of the yard. Kumar wanted it moved, but the developer said it was "the most logical" location given various council requirements, including drainage.

Kumar has also been told to cover a $36,500 infrastructure growth charge (IGC) to Auckland's water provider Watercare. Kumar argues this should be covered by the developer, and can't afford to pay it.

He said there was no mention of the IGC before he signed the contract, and he was told there wouldn't be other charges. The charge was only brought up once Kumar had made the second to last payment instalment and construction was almost complete.

"This whole scenario has put a lot of pressure on my business and on my mental health, my life as well," he said.

"I have tried literally everything to get these guys to finish my house but they are not ready to budge."

Mani said the infrastructure costs were the landowner's responsibility, and had reminded clients of the pending costs as their homes neared completion.

"The Watercare Customer Contract specifies that the owner and user of the services is liable for the IGC in relation to which Watercare requires payment," he said.

Eco-Smart Homes guaranteed code compliance certification within five weeks of homeowners paying the IGC, Mani said.

Kumar has chased up contractors who worked on the build to gather documents he needs to apply for a code of compliance himself, but some are withholding these documents claiming they haven't been paid by Mani.

Kristine King, a director at DK Law who specialises in property, commercial and trust law, said if a purchaser is buying pursuant to an "off the plans" sale and purchase agreement, the developer would be expected to pay all charges, including the IGC.

But if the purchaser enters into a "land and build" contract, the obligations for payment may differ.

"In that case, the build contract must be reviewed carefully to determine what cost may be included or excluded. In some instances, the IGC may be payable by the purchaser or client," King said.

Stuff has spoken to six other homeowners on the same Helensville street who are dealing with similar issues.

Some say they have been unable to move into their property two years on from purchasing as their water pipes have not been connected due to the outstanding IGC costs.

Junius Dimasuhid

Junius Dimasuhid, 45, bought a home and land package from Eco-Smart Homes in 2020 on the same street.

Construction of his three bedroom home was delayed by the Covid-19 lockdowns and didn't start until January 2023.

Dimasuhid was paying rent alongside his mortgage from early 2022 and said the delays in construction created a financial strain on his family.

When he finally moved into his home, in November 2023, he said there were still issues with the property, including incomplete fencing and a portable toilet for the workers still on the site.

"I'm thinking, this is what I get for what I'm paying for," Dimasuhid said. "I would expect the house would be delivered for me fresh and tidy."

Dimasuhid is also being asked to pay the $36,500 infrastructure growth charge to Watercare. He said the IGC wasn't mentioned to him before he signed the contract.

"It's not stated on the sale and purchase agreement… we're kind of surprised," he said.

"It's supposed to be the developer who pays that because we've contracted them to do the work. As of now, I can't pay that, it's too much. I don't have that kind of money."

His home also hasn't received a code compliance certificate, and Dimasuhid, like Kumar, said some contractors are withholding documents as they claim they haven't been paid by Mani.

Dimasuhid has not heard directly from Mani since March, and said he now only communicates with him through a lawyer.

"It's crazy, the construction is still going on. There's still people working, but we're living in a subdivision that is unfinished," he said.

"A few months ago, it looks like the owner of the company has abandoned us."

Simon Paul

Simon Paul says he hasn't moved into his house and still doesn't have water connected to the property.

He has held off making his final payment because of this, while other fixtures and fittings aren't completed.

"I put my foot down and said I'm not paying a cent, because we've got no water," Paul said.

"We were sold a fixed-price contract house, with CCC, but now he's trying to get out of the water connection."

Paul said the homeowners had discussed taking a group action against Mani, but agreed it would be problematic.

"We've all got an email thread going and we've chatted about different options," he said.

Peter Finlay

For Peter Finlay and his partner Ashley Ferguson, moving into their house on Rongomai Street came at a momentous time in their lives, with Ferguson 39 weeks pregnant, and even though their property wasn't finished, they decided to go ahead with it.

"We couldn't wait any longer, so we put some pressure on for that final council inspection to get us the home and contents insurance and our baby was born one week after we moved in," Finlay said.

When they moved into their unfinished house, they had hardly any furniture but were thankful to finally have somewhere to call home.

"We sat in our lounge, with nothing around, sitting on a camping chair, Ashley was sitting there, 39 weeks pregnant, having a takeaway," he said.

"At that moment, there was relief that we'd got a roof over our heads and that everything else would fall into place from here, but that was short-lived."

Ferguson spent the following week unpacking boxes and they sourced as much furniture and appliances online as they could budget for, knowing the baby was coming any day.

"When we moved in, the home wasn't fully completed," Finlay said.

"The final clean hadn't been done, there were cement splashes on the window, grouting hadn't been finished and silicone was needed around the tiles."

Finlay took it into his own hands to complete the work on the property, putting aside time each week to do tasks while also helping Ferguson with their new-born son, RJ.

"It was pretty stressful and it has been since then, because we've been battling for CCC and there has been zero communication from the developer and their lawyers," he said.

"We never anticipated any of this, but we're very close to CCC and one of the final hurdles will be a massive Watercare IGC payment that we weren't aware of until recently."

Reluctantly, the couple decided to pay the money to Watercare.

"The only other option was to make it a civil court case," Finlay said.

"This was potentially several thousand dollars and a lot of stress and time and there's no guaranteed outcome with that."

Claire Nicolas

Claire Nicolas, 49, and her husband John Sarmiento, 48, bought a home off the plans on Rongomai Street in 2022.

Due to delays in the paperwork, construction didn't begin until May 2023, and 12 months later the work appeared to be complete.

But Claire and John still haven't been able to move into what would be their first home because they too have not had the IGC costs paid.

Claire said when she purchased a land and build package from Eco-Smart Homes she assumed it covered all the costs, and the fee wasn't mentioned to her.

The pair have been paying both their mortgage and rent since August 2023 and have exhausted their savings.

She said the ordeal has had an emotional and psychological toll on her.

"There's an anger. It doesn't seem like there's systems in place to protect people like us from people like that," Claire said.

"When you're in that situation and you've been waiting for two years to move into your house… it's disheartening."

Lara Rimell

The completion date for Lara and Jordy Rimell's home was pushed out five times.

The Rimells, who have a three-year-old child, Frankie, gave their landlord two months notice based on the final completion date they were given for September.

But the day before they were set to move in they were told the home wouldn't be ready for another two months.

"We spent 7 weeks homeless, staying with family and friends. We had a three-year-old we had to pull out of daycare for most of this period," Lara said.

When they eventually moved into the home there were many issues, she said, including landscaping and decking.

Eco-Smart insists that Lara, like the other homeowners, is responsible for the water connection costs.

"We've made a submission with the small claims court for Eco-Smart to pay $30k towards the IGC, but there is a big delay from the courts at the moment with hearings," she said.

She said the ordeal has been frustrating for her and her family.

"We're first home buyers doing our best to get into this house and being hit with all of these costs," Lara said.

"There's no repercussion for Eco-Smart to be doing this to homeowners."

Dave Hayes

Dave Hayes bought a property on the same Helensville street. He said it was supposed to be completed in June 2023, but the date kept being pushed out.

"We made the final payment because we were assured that the property would be finished, and the property wasn't," Hayes said.

"We had half a fence up on one side, there was no grass. We had to bite the bullet… my wife and I hired someone to get the code of compliance certificate."

Claire Cherry

Claire Cherry, 37, bought a home off the plans in July 2022.

She moved into her home in December 2023 and upon contacting Watercare discovered she needed to pay the IGC. The developer had never mentioned the fee, she said.

Cherry said she hasn't been able to contact Mani since March, and that the ordeal has been "extremely stressful".

"It's been a really disappointing experience, and I think there's a lot of loopholes that he's been able to play in," she said.

Her home also hasn't received a code compliance certificate due to the outstanding IGC costs.

"It's turning into a bit of a nightmare if I'm honest," she said.

Developer 'understands homeowners' frustration'

Mani said he regrets the delays and other issues that have arisen and impacted homeowners.

"It was never our intention that homeowners be inconvenienced in this way," he said.

"Eco-Smart acknowledges the homes were delivered with a slight delay on schedule, and the company understands homeowners' frustration and apologises."

Mani said the Helensville project suffered a serious setback when a builder stole $320,000 before leaving the country.

"As you can appreciate, this created numerous complications and forced delays and additional expense," they said.

Stuff has seen a liquidators report which states the builder, Jenhash Contracting and Consultants Limited, went into liquidation on May 17 2023.

It stated the sole director of the company, Mubashir Hussain Shah, is currently overseas and Eco-Smart Homes was listed as a creditor.

Mani said flash flooding in Auckland in early 2023 badly impacted the site and caused months of delays.

He said his business has also had to deal with the collapse of two building companies it was working with.

"We are making progress. It may not be as fast as we, or our clients, would like, but we are getting there and have every intention of finishing the job," he said.

Still, he stood by his claim that the homeowners were responsible for the Watercare charges they said they were not aware of.

"We contacted clients as the house builds were coming to completion and reminded them that as per the WaterCare guidelines the landowner is required to make the Infrastructure Growth Contribution," he said.

"The owners have now owned the land for over two years. We also sent further follow ups to the owners over the last few months."

Eco-Smart Homes Auckland Limited was founded by Alistair Campbell Austin, who served as its director from July 2017 to January 2020. Mani was initially a salesman and took over as director when Austin left. The business is based in Parnell, central Auckland.

In 2022, the company was accused of delivering an incomplete home behind schedule in Glenbrook. The home was described as having construction materials abandoned at the site and the owner said he never received the Master Build guarantee he was promised.

Mani was also a salesman, and his family owned a 90% share, in the failed development company Tribeca Homes. It went into liquidation in 2015, after conceding it could not honour multiple home building contracts.

According to Company Hub, Mani is the director of ten property companies, including Eco-Smart Residential West Auckland Limited, Eco-Smart Residential South Auckland Limited, Momentum Property Trustee Limited, Ectch Limited and Prime Assets #1 to #8 Limited.

- Stuff