New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Order for sale

Legal area

Court

25 Jul 2023

NAKHLE v NADIN-HARVEY [2023] NZHC 1904

Citation

[2023] NZHC 1904
Court

High Court

The Court fixed fair occupation rent at $1,250 per week for 1 February 2023–19 July 2023 and $1,300 per week from 20 July 2023 until vacation; awarded plaintiff costs of $11,711 and disbursements of $2,040; ordered the property marketed and sold by auction on specified terms with the auction reserve price suppressed pending an unconditional sale; and set detailed priority payments and distribution of net proceeds.
4 May 2023

BROWN v SWEENEY (Distribution of funds and costs) [2023] NZHC 1049

Citation

[2023] NZHC 1049
Court

High Court

Insufficient admissible evidence established that $10,744.22 of the claimed remediation payments related to remediation, therefore only $9,152.61 was credited to the plaintiffs; the expert appointed by consent benefited both parties and his costs are to be shared equally; penalty interest is to be split 50/50 by agreement; expert invoices to be paid from trust funds before distribution; overall costs of the proceeding and applications are to lie where they fall.
20 Dec 2022

HALLIDAY v HANNAH [2022] NZHC 3570

Citation

[2022] NZHC 3570
Court

High Court

Costs were reserved until after determination of the substantive proceeding because, although the summary judgment application had significant legal and factual difficulties and the judge had a preliminary view that defendants were entitled to costs, the court was not satisfied the plaintiff ought to have realised the application was clearly inappropriate given defendants' asserted but undisclosed legal advice and the possibility that substantive evidence could explain deficiencies in the summary judgment material.
30 Nov 2022

JONES v TUHAKARAINA [2023] NZHC 3440

Citation

[2023] NZHC 3440
Court

High Court

Because the respondent failed to cooperate and vacate the property, and independent valuation and agent advice supported marketability at values above the proposed reserve, the Court exercised its s343 powers to order a deadline sale with a $725,000 reserve, authorised the Registrar to execute documents for the respondent, deducted outstanding rates from the respondent's share, and awarded costs to the applicants to facilitate an effective sale.
19 Aug 2022

KERRI-ANN MAREE HALLIDAY v SHANE CHRISTOPHER HANNAH [2022] NZHC 2066

Citation

[2022] NZHC 2066
Court

High Court

Summary judgment was declined because disputed factual and credibility issues exist regarding the trustee's state of mind and knowledge at the time of the 2021 transfer and because the Trust Deed and the pleadings do not establish an unambiguous basis for an order for sale; even if sale were available, mandatory discretionary considerations (including contributions and hardship) require a full factual inquiry unsuited to summary disposition.
5 Aug 2022

STALIX PROPERTY LIMITED v WU [2022] NZHC 1928

Citation

[2022] NZHC 1928
Court

High Court

The plaintiffs, as registered proprietors following a lawful sale conducted by the Registrar pursuant to final and enforceable court orders and after all appeal rights were exhausted, are entitled to immediate possession; the defendants raised only arguments previously rejected by the Court and offered no arguable defence, so summary judgment for recovery of land was granted and defendants ordered to vacate within 48 hours of service.
30 Mar 2022

LO v LO [2022] NZCA 98

Citation

[2022] NZCA 98
Court

Court of Appeal

By consent the Court modified the prior buy-out orders to permit respondents to give a buy-out notice any time before 1 July 2022 and, if a buy-out does not proceed, ordered sale of the property on the detailed, mutually agreed terms set out in the Appendix, with proceeds applied to mortgage, outgoings and costs and the balance divided one third each.
10 Sept 2021

TEMPLE 88 LTD (in liquidation) v HASSINE and PRUETT [2021] NZHC 2351

Citation

[2021] NZHC 2351
Court

High Court

The court held that Temple 88 retained an equitable lien and right of exoneration against the trust property for liabilities properly incurred as trustee; those rights passed to the liquidator and, because they take priority over the trustees' beneficial interests, it was just and equitable to order sale of the property to satisfy the lien, mortgage and liquidation costs and to order recovery of possession from occupying defendants with a 90 day vacate period.
10 Jul 2020

CHISWELL v CUNYNGHAME [2020] NZHC 1651

Citation

(2020) 21 NZCPR 396
Court

High Court

The Court granted leave because the dispute concerns a discrete statutory application under s 339 where the s 342 considerations can be addressed by affidavit evidence, the issues are confined and suitable for the originating application procedure, and the possibility of a counterclaim about a different property does not preclude determining the present application for sale of the subject property.
26 Feb 2020

MALLEY & CO LAWYERS v SUNDBERG [2020] NZHC 264 .

Citation

[2020] NZHC 264
Court

High Court

The charging order was extended because the judgment creditor took steps to enforce the judgment (negotiation and application for sale), was not inactive, and the judgment debtors' objections amount to an improper collateral attack on the formal proof judgment; therefore it was just to extend the charging order to protect the creditor and to award costs to the creditor on a 2B basis with disbursements.