- A couple is selling their historic Kauri cottage in Mangapai after landslides made it unliveable.

- They bought the property for $930,000 in June 2022, but it's now yellow stickered.

- The home is being sold "as is" at auction, with potential buyers urged to ignore the $790,000 RV.

A heartbroken couple are selling their historic Kauri cottage near the sea for much less than what they paid after a landslide ruined their plans and rendered their home unliveable.

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The couple, who declined to be named for this article, purchased the lifestyle property at 3 Panekaira Road, in Mangapai, Northland, in June 2022 for $930,000.

The property was damaged in a landslide in November 2022 and suffered more problems when Cyclone Gabrielle struck in 2023. The couple had to find somewhere else to live after the council issued a yellow sticker amid concerns that further land movement could compromise the 115-year-old house.

The 115-year-old cottage on a 1.22ha site in Mangapai, Northland, is being sold

The council yellow stickered the property over concern that further slips could compromise the 115-year-old Kauri cottage. Photo / Supplied

The 115-year-old cottage on a 1.22ha site in Mangapai, Northland, is being sold

Significant retaining walls are needed to stabilise the land. Photo / Supplied

Ray White Whangārei listing agent Sandie Kirkman, who is marketing the property with colleague Rae Ocean, said the couple were “heartbroken”.

They had bought the cottage as their retirement property, but because it had all gone wrong, they were selling up and moving on.

“They are under no illusion that they are going to get anywhere near what they bought it for or the RV,” she said.

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Kirkman told OneRoof the couple had looked at doing the remedial work themselves, but found the ordeal traumatising. “It’s tragic all around.”

The property is being sold "as is, where is", with Kirkman’s listing urging “bold” buyers looking for “a once-in-a-blue-moon buy” to ignore the RV of $790,000.

Interested parties had the chance to pick up a “bargain” at next month's auction, she said. “The opportunity now is to remediate, stabilise the land, relocate the house, and/or do something else with the land.”

Kirkman’s understood that significant retaining walls would be needed in order to get council sign-off and the yellow sticker lifted.

“The house is yellow-stickered, not the land, but it’s because of the land.”

The 115-year-old home is believed to have been built from a single Kauri and is known as one of Mangapai's earliest homes.

Kirkman said Mangapai was only about 20 minutes from Whangārei, so was “more for the city folk who wanted a bit of lifestyle”.

- 3 Panekaira Road, in Mangapai, Whangārei, goes to auction on June 19