The private owners of some Oakridge apartments say they are initiating legal proceedings against the former receiver of the Wanaka accommodation complex, after it was sold in December to South Island hoteliers The Williams Group.
A media release issued by a committee representing Oakridge apartment owners alleges receiver Gordon Hansen of PKF Goldsmith Fox reneged on an agreement to pass on revenue to apartment owners while the resort was under his management.
Committee spokesman Ron Inglis claimed Mr Hansen was refusing to meet his legal obligations under the Receiverships Act to pass on room revenue to private owners.
Mr Hansen, of Christchurch, said he had not received any formal legal proceedings from the private owners.
He declined to comment on the allegations made against him by the apartment owners, because "I don't wish to litigate this matter in the media".
Apartment owners had experienced a "harrowing" time without income from Oakridge last year, Mr Inglis said.
Despite the recent sale to The Williams Group, many "embattled" apartment owners and investors were "financially stressed", particularly those who had bought units as part of a second stage of development under the resort's previous owners.
Lease offers from the new owners had left some unit owners with no choice but to investigate other letting alternatives, he said.
"The return being offered would barely be enough to cover the most minimal of mortgages, let alone the massive financial commitments some have to their banks," he said.
Williams Group general manager Tony Williams said meetings were being held with groups of apartment owners in Whangarei, Auckland, and Christchurch - locations where several investors were based.
He acknowledged the loss some investors had experienced under their agreements with the former owners of Oakridge.
However, the resort was now out of receivership, all of the staff remained in employment at the complex, and the occupancy rates were very strong, he said.
"All of the [private unit] owners who have joined on an interim or short-term basis with us are being paid," Mr Williams said.
The financial difficulties some private investors were facing had arisen from a development model the former owners used before their operation was placed in receivership, he said.
The Oakridge Resort group of companies was placed in receivership in September, owing about $10 million to South Canterbury Finance.
Wanaka businessman Par Hallberg and his wife, Anita, acquired full ownership of Oakridge in 2006.
They developed the complex in several stages into a 177-room, four-and-a-half-star hotel spread over 6.5ha on the corner of Cardrona Valley Rd and Studholme Rd.
