Company fined for illegally moving houses

A company owned by property developer Shannon Tawhiti has been fined $14,000 after pleading guilty to illegally moving houses onto four Hastings sections. Photo / Duncan Brown.

A company owned by property developer Shannon Tawhiti has been fined $14,000 after pleading guilty to illegally moving houses onto four Hastings sections.

The sentence, in relation to a breach of the Resource Management Act, was imposed on SHT Holdings Ltd, trading as Relocate Homes NZ, by Judge Geoff Rea in Hastings District Court this morning.

Earlier this month four charges laid against Mr Tawhiti were withdrawn and replaced with a representative charge against his company.

Mr Tawhiti outraged Mahora residents in January when he relocated three buildings on to a Totara St property in the suburb without the required consent, in a move which also violated housing density rules.

The council initially issued an abatement notice requiring the removal of the Totara St houses, but later granted resource consent and dispensation from density rules.

It said in February it had investigated all home relocation work undertaken by Mr Tawhiti in the district.

Last year SHT Holdings received a $300 infringement notice after he illegally moved an ex-state house on to a section in Joll Rd, Havelock North, which was later granted consent.

Mr Tawhiti has previously said he had been involved in about 100 house relocations, with only the Joll Rd and Totara St developments running into consenting problems.