Neighbours

 

PHOTO: JASON DORDAY/STUFF A young family’s plans to develop their property have been held up by a “wealthy” neighbour who is refusing to remove a retaining wall.

Neighbours in one of Auckland’s most exclusive neighbourhoods have gone into an expensive legal battle over a 134-year-old basalt retaining wall.

Xanthe Johnson and her husband moved into their $1.6m property in Mt Eden, Auckland in 2012 with the intention of demolishing the decrepit villa and developing the site by building two townhouses and a duplex.

But he couple, both architects, could not get resource consent to build on the site because their neighbour’s wall encroaches on their driveway.

“We got a survey done we realised the driveway wasn’t where we thought the driveway was,” Johnson said.

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