How can 4 trustees do so much damage

In 2000 we wanted to find a home near Greenlane. Our full time jobs were in Manukau and North Shore.  We found this 80-year-old leasehold bungalow selling for just on what the bank would lend us.  We researched Cornwall Park leasehold and paid a valuer to get the best advice.  We found it was a good, affordable option, and you could get your money back plus a bit more if you sold midway through the 21 year lease term.  Even if you didn't get the capital gain of a freehold property, you paid a fair rent and could treat the home as your own - because you own the home, and lease the land.  The Cornwall Park trustees were widely respected, and treated leaseholders fairly.

We knew the lease would go up quite a lot at renewal time, so we saved and budgeted around it.  But then the trouble started.  The board started demanding rents that were crazy.  They legally could of course, because the lease was written 100 years ago when land values were very low.  But we never expected them to demand rents 4 x market rent!  After 80 years of leasehold funding the Park like it was meant to, leaseholders were forced to hand back their homes to the Board and leave with nothing!  After demanding unaffordable ground rent, the board is forcing families to leave, and then they rent out the homes at 25% of what they demanded from the family!  They also have to pay the extra landlord costs of rates, insurance, maintenance and property management, so they actually have far less income to run Cornwall Park than if they charged fair rent.  

The board have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of trust funds on lawyers to force leaseholders to pay up.  Surely these people responsible for managing Logan Campbell's generous gift to us wouldn't destroy the community of people who fund the park?

It’s got worse.   Now they have confiscated the $20 million of Showgrounds buildings from a long standing charity, forced Auckland's A&P Association into receivership impacting many small businesses who showed their wares at fairs and now they want to rent the Showgrounds to a film studio.

It's hard to believe this group of four trustees can be happy to cause so much damage and misery.  It seems like only Parliament has the power to make them stop, and do the right thing.  

This is the story of a very long time leaseholder.