Maria Slade

New Zealand

Senior Journalist at The National Business Review

Editor at BusinessDesk

Senior journalist at the National Business Review. Fascinating time to be covering business news.

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Articles

Townhouse sold for $275k profit in three weeks

1 day ago | businessdesk.co.nz | Maria Slade

A new West Auckland townhouse sold to a property flipper by a Barfoot & Thompson agent for $776,000 was onsold for $1.05 million three weeks later, an increase of $274,000.The sale of 8/14 Hewlett Rd in Massey is one in a series of transactions involving San Carlo Properties and Barfoots agent Chetan Kanjarbhat.San Carlo Properties is owned by Stuart Jackson, a veteran property trader who was found guilty of unlicensed trading in 2017.In two of the sales examined by BusinessDesk, the...
NZ’s sole aluminium recycling foundry may close because of gas shortage

2 days ago | businessdesk.co.nz | Maria Slade

New Zealand’s only aluminium recycler may go out of business if it can’t find an energy source to replace its expiring natural gas supply.Switching to electricity isn’t an option for Glucina Alloys in Auckland’s Avondale because it is too expensive.Local lines company Vector will charge the small firm $500,000 just to provide the capacity, even though the infrastructure to get the power to its Rosebank Rd site is already there.It would then need to spend an additional $300,000 on equipment...
Property flipping 'pushing up prices': Valuer

1 week ago | businessdesk.co.nz | Maria Slade

A property valuer fears rampant flipping is pushing up prices in low-income suburbs of South Auckland.The valuer had previously operated in other parts of the city and was shocked when they started working in South Auckland last year to find modest homes changing hands multiple times within a few weeks at erratic price increments.A certain group of people conducted the lion’s share of these deals, and the valuer, who did not want to be identified for fear of repercussions, would see about two...
Long way to go before building regulatory gaps are plugged

1 week ago | businessdesk.co.nz | Maria Slade

The long-running television consumer affairs show Fair Go couldn’t go a season without at least one "ratbag roofer" tale.Roofing disaster stories were bread and butter for the now sadly discontinued champion of the New Zealand battler.A former staffer tells your correspondent that the unregulated sector seemed to produce an endless supply of inadequately skilled and unscrupulous practitioners.
Clarkes fight order to attend interview

2 weeks ago | businessdesk.co.nz | Maria Slade

Du Val founders Charlotte and Kenyon Clarke are opposing a court order that they front up for an interview with the receivers, PwC.The Auckland property group collapsed last year owing an estimated $306m, with 70 entities placed in statutory management and a further eight in receivership, including the Clarkes themselves.PwC were appointed both the statutory managers and the receivers.The Clarkes refused to be interviewed by the receivers, so in December PwC asked the High Court to direct the...
Failed Haven Living owes at least $2.1m

2 weeks ago | businessdesk.co.nz | Maria Slade

Property management business Haven Living Management owes at least $2.1 million, the first liquidators’ report shows.The Auckland-based business was placed into liquidation on March 13 following an application by two out-of-pocket bodies corporate.In December, Haven Living and three other Haven group companies staved off a liquidation bid by the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) over a $1.5m tax bill.However, the bodies corporate of the central city student accommodation block Unicentre and the...
'Trusted' builders to certify their own work

2 weeks ago | businessdesk.co.nz | Maria Slade

Trusted builders and tradespeople will be able to sign off their own work, in the latest initiative from the Government to speed up house building.The move would result in around 3,000 homes being built each year without delays from approvals or inspections, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk said.The Government is also setting a mandatory target to tackle building inspection wait times, requiring building consent authorities (BCAs) to complete 80% of inspections within three...
Apprenticeships to be moved to new industry skills boards

3 weeks ago | businessdesk.co.nz | Maria Slade

The Government is going ahead with establishing new Industry Skills Boards to manage apprenticeships, despite industry concerns.Vocational Education Minister Penny Simmonds has announced that from Jan 1, 2026, the Industry Skills Boards (ISBs) will be created to set training standards, endorse programmes and moderate assessments.The changes to work-based learning follow the Government’s decision last year to scrap Te Pūkenga, the previous administration’s mega-merger of vocational...
Damien Grant 'stacked creditor vote', US lender claims

3 weeks ago | businessdesk.co.nz | Maria Slade

An American financier told the High Court that controversial insolvency practitioner Damien Grant was a "friendly liquidator" who stacked a creditor vote and should be replaced.Arena Alceon NZ, the New York-based lender behind the large South Auckland housing project Ormiston Rise, wants Grant and his Waterstone Insolvency colleague sacked in favour of the Official Assignee, claiming they failed to act impartially and competently.Waterstone was appointed liquidator of Ormiston Rise Limited...
Auckland’s Plan Change 78: In defence of the villa amid urban intensification push

3 weeks ago | businessdesk.co.nz | Maria Slade

Unless you are a planning nerd or need a cure for insomnia, the long-running saga of Auckland’s Plan Change 78 will have escaped your notice.Yet this arcane urban intensification instrument has far-reaching implications for our biggest city's future shape and liveability.PC78 is Auckland Council’s (AC) response to central government demands that local authorities free up extra capacity for residential and commercial development in their areas.However, since AC notified the plan change in...