Entire house fly-tipped in New Zealand

Rod Bray of Northbridge Properties surveys his surprising new problem

A property developer in New Zealand is offering a reward after an entire house was dumped on land in an Auckland suburb.

The graffiti-strewn and derelict bungalow appeared over a week ago on an area that had recently been cleared for a new retail centre in Takanini, to the south of New Zealand's largest city, the Newshub website reports.

But unlike Dorothy's house in the Wizard of Oz, the hovel probably arrived on the back of a truck, rather than being lifted by a tornado.

Rod Bray of developers Northbridge Properties told Newshub that the culprits were probably trying to cut their own demolition costs by fly-tipping the house.

"The options are either pay to have it demolished, or you dump it somewhere else and make it someone else's problem," he said, pointing out that it would cost his company over NZ$20,000 ($13,800; £10,300) to remove it.

Offering a NZ$1,000 ($690; £515) reward for information that might lead to a conviction, Mr Bray said that if those responsible do the decent thing and take the house away, then no further action will be taken, the Papakura Courier reports.

"It's a level up from the old mattresses and household refuse people have been dumping," he said. "It's the first time I have seen a whole house dumped."

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Reporting by Alistair Coleman

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