Tag: Auckland Council

Council Prosecuting under the Building Act

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Company Fined $9,000

 

From Auckland Council

Council successful in building prosecutions

 

Auckland Council has successfully prosecuted five companies under the Building Act for starting building works without building consent, including one which was fined $9,000.

In the Manukau District Court last week, Judge Sharon McAuslan fined Waikato Crane Services Ltd $9,000 for starting building works without building consent on a commercial building site for an office and workshop for cranes.

The building, at Langley Rd, Wiri, was about 75 per cent complete when council officers visited the site in late August.

 

Judge McAuslan determined the starting point for the offending as $14,000. After allowing a discount for various mitigating features, she fined the company $9,000 and court costs of $130. Auckland Council receives 90 per cent of the fine; the balance going to the courts.

 

The company said it relied on assurances given by an in-house project manager that proved to be incorrect and unreliable.

Four other companies – including a construction company, a plumber and drainlayer – were also fined between $4,550 and $3,250 – for breaches of the Act.

Auckland Council’s Manager Litigation & Regulatory, Legal Services, James Hassall said the fines imposed send a clear warning to companies and experts that they must ensure that all building work is carried out in accordance the legal obligations and requirements of the Building Act.

—–ends——

 

Pays to comply folks

 

Council Website Updates

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Still Issues, Hampering Research

 

From Auckland Council:

Update: Auckland Council website

 

Auckland Council says the continuing heavy traffic on its website means people may still experience intermittent delays in accessing property valuations.

People are advised to phone the council’s call centre on 0508 000 021 if they are unable to access their property value via the website and will receive this information over the phone. The centre has increased staff to cope with extra demand.

Acting Chief Finance Officer Kevin Ramsay says more capacity has been added to the website overnight, but if activity remains at the levels experienced over the past two days the problems may continue.

“The reality is that the demand is unprecedented and even with the additional capacity, people may still experience issues.”

Property owners have started receiving their notices of valuation in the mail.

Council property valuations – key facts:

  • Valuations, which are completed every three years, will be used to help determine the share of rates for each property for year beginning 1 July 2015, but have no impact on the amount of rates council collects overall
  • This year’s property revaluation showed an average capital value increase of 29 per cent since 2011
  • The average residential capital value increase was 34.8 per cent
  • All property owners will also receive a notice in the mail in mid-November
  • All property owners have the right to object to their values and the objections process is now open.

—-ends—–

 

Valuations Walk-Through: Run Through The Valuations

Valuations and the Unitary Plan: The Unitary Plan, the Recent Valuations

 

The GIS errors from the Council website is hampering research into land values in our industrial estates which what the second part of a podcast (first was this morning: The Unitary Plan, the Recent Valuations ) will be zeroing in on. Frustrating I know.

 

Council Website STILL Facing Issues

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Unacceptable

 

From Auckland Council as the website still faces issues:

Auckland Council website update

 

Auckland Council’s website is continuing to experience intermittent technical issues as people try to access the new 2014 property valuations published yesterday.

 

Acting Chief Finance Officer Kevin Ramsay says the council apologises for the ongoing problem. The council is adding more IT resources and bandwidth to its website to help cope with the traffic.

 

The website yesterday experienced a more than 1,000% increase in page views for a single day. On an average the site gets between 80,000 to 90,000 daily page views and yesterday, despite the intermittent site fluctuations, there were 977,968 page views.

 

“IT staff are working long hours to try to make the site more stable and resolve any of the technical issues involved and we apologise for the inconvenience.”

 

The valuations, which are completed every three years, will be used to help determine the share of rates for each property for year beginning 1 July 2015, but have no impact on the amount of rates council collects overall

 

Council property valuations – key facts: 

  • Property valuations help determine the share of rates people pay but have no impact on the amount of rates money the council collects

 

  • This year’s property revaluation showed an average capital value increase of 29 per cent since 2011

 

  • The average residential capital value increase was 34.8 per cent

 

  • All property owners will also receive a notice in the mail in mid-November

 

  • All property owners have the right to object to their values and the objections process is now open.

 

aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/EN/ratesbuildingproperty/ratesvaluations/valuations/Pages/home.aspx

 

 

—ends—

 

Rather unacceptable and it seems it could have been avoidable as well after some rounds of coffees with friends in the IT sector.

The NBR has the responses from the Council Chief Financial Officer which can be seen here: http://www.nbr.co.nz/opinion/auckland-councils-property-value-website-crash-%E2%80%94-offline-problem

 

My Valuations Walk Through can be seen (or rather listened to) here: Run Through The Valuations

 

Follow up podcast on what could be done in response to the valuations will go up tomorrow.

 

Three Kings Submissions Extended

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Submission Deadline Extended Owing to Website Issues

 

From Auckland Council:

Three Kings Quarry submissions extended

 

The closing date for public submissions on two private plan changes by Fletcher Residential Ltd for the redevelopment of Three Kings Quarry has been extended to 5pm Friday 14 November 2014. 

 

Submissions were due to close on Monday 10 November.

 

The extension is a result of difficulties experienced by some online submitters caused by technical issues on the Auckland Council website resulting from large number of people accessing information on property revaluations.

—ends—

 

Questions around the saga of the Council website crashing still need to be answered seeming $700m was spent “upgrading” it.

 

Council Notice on Website Issues

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Ouch

 

From Auckland Council

Auckland Council apologises for difficulties accessing property valuations online

 

Auckland Council has apologised for difficulties accessing the new 2014 property valuations published on its website today.

Acting Chief Finance Officer Kevin Ramsay says council is working to resolve the issue but said that some people may still experience intermittent delays or difficulties accessing property valuations.

“We are sorry for the inconvenience this has caused,” Mr Ramsay said. “We are working to resolve this issue with our website as quickly as possible. We know there is huge interest in this year’s property valuations and had planned for a user-friendly experience, so it is regrettable these problems occurred.”

The valuations, which are completed every three years, will be used to help determine the share of rates for each property for year beginning 1 July 2015, but have no impact on the amount of rates council collects overall

Council property valuations – key facts:

 

  • Property valuations help determine the share of rates people pay but have no impact on the amount of rates money the council collects
  • This year’s property revaluation showed an average capital value increase of 29 per cent since 2011
  • The average residential capital value increase was 34.8 per cent
  • All property owners will also receive a notice in the mail in mid-November
  • All property owners have the right to object to their values and the objections process is now open.

More at: aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/EN/ratesbuildingproperty/ratesvaluations/valuations/Pages/home.aspx

——-ends——

Note: the Residential Average I used for the base formula in my previous post is at 34.8% not 34% as I stated. I means I am up for a Rates rise of 7.1% not 7.9% as mentioned earlier. None the less it is still looking down the barrel of a stiff Rates rise on these approximates!