Residents up in arms over council action

Totara St residents may seek a judicial review after consent was granted for three houses to be moved on to a section illegally. Photo / File

Totara St residents may seek a judicial review after Hastings District Council granted resource consent for houses moved on to a section illegally.

Relocate Homes NZ owner Shannon Tawhiti raised the ire of residents in Totara St, Mahora, last month when he relocated three houses on to a section without the required consent, in a move which also violated housing density rules.

The council last week granted resource consent for the houses, and dispensation for density rules, after it earlier issued an abatement notice requiring their removal.

The consent was granted on the abatement notice's day of expiry, which Totara St residents' spokesman Preston Epplett said "seems more than a coincidence and justifies further investigation".

"We are frustrated that law-abiding, rate paying citizens are being usurped by a habitual offender who never seems to be required to pay for his offences. In the end we feel that we have not been given a fair go and let down by the council."

Residents were considering seeking a judicial review.

"That is an expensive option but we believe this is a much wider issue than just Totara St.

All neighbourhoods in Hastings should feel concerned as this could quite easily happen next to them next week or the week after."

The council fined Mr Tawhiti's company $300 in October last year after he illegally moved an ex-state house on to a section in Joll Rd, Havelock North, which was later granted consent. The developer also moved a house on to a property in Tarbet St, Flaxmere, last month, before removing it in a manner described by local residents as "miraculous".