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Taping up a warning sign on the electric fence - Source: ONE News -
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A man fighting to keep his family home resorted to building an electric fence around the property, in a bid to keep the bank from taking it away.
In a last line of defence, John Rees built the fence around his Christchurch home. However even that was not enough when the bank gained ownership of the house on Tuesday.
The property has been in the family for over 130 years, but Rees started to get in financial trouble 18 months ago.
On Monday he put a last minute application through the courts to keep out the bailiffs, but his pleas for more time fell on deaf ears.
He still says he can catch with up with repayments, but the bank had had enough.
On Tuesday afternoon, ASB Bank successfully gained possession of the family home, and police with court bailiffs pushed aside barricades to remove Rees from the property.
Rees, a property developer and builder, is the first to admit he does not have an unblemished record with the bank.
"The banks are the only ones in the current climate making a profit," he says.
"Being in the building game, you do always get behind but you do catch up ... so they were pretty lenient at the start, but after Christmas ... they just turned the tap off ... no more money."
Even though the locks have now been changed at the property, Rees has vowed not to give up the fight.
