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The mystery of how a whole house came to be dumped on land being prepared for development in New Zealand appears to have been solved after a contractor came forward with an explanation.

The derelict bungalow appeared on an area which had recently been cleared for a new retail centre to the south of Auckland, in an act of fly-tipping so blatant the development company offered a NZ$1,000 ($690; £515) reward for information.

Now the that a company has come forward to say that they had been storing the house for a year - which had originally stood on the plot in the suburb of Takanini - and were merely 'returning it to sender', unaware that the land's ownership had changed hands.

Rod Bray of current landowners Northbridge Properties said there appeared to be a dispute over payments between the owners of the graffiti-strewn bungalow and the contractor who had been storing it.

This led to the company dumping the house back where it came from, Mr Bray as saying.

He added that while he is "sympathetic" to the house removal contractor, Northbridge Properties would still pursue prosecutions against those involved.

"We have purchased the land in good faith and had, 11 months later, a house dumped on our site," he told Stuff. "We are a completely innocent party."

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Reporting by Alistair Coleman

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