Northland squatter spat coming to a head

An Australian property investor expects it will be next week before he's able to call on police to enforce an eviction order against a group of Maori occupying a Northland property he bought at a mortgagee sale in April.

Glenn Hannah obtained the order after District Court judge Keith de Ridder found, during a hearing in Kaikohe on Wednesday, that the buyer had clear legal ownership of the property.

The court gave the occupiers two days - until 4.30pm today to leave Mr Hannah's commercial building in Broadway, Kaikohe.

This afternoon, members of Nga Uri o Tupoto Maori Inc remained on the property, saying they were working through a process before deciding what course of action to take next, and what court to approach now.

Mr Hannah's lawyer, Doug Blaikie, told NZPA today that under District Court legislation, orders for recovery of land and property can be carried out only between the hours of 9am and 4pm.

"That's the law. In this case, the warrant does not issue until 4.30pm so nothing will happen at the building today or probably until next week when police can devote the necessary resources available to them," Mr Blaikie said.

"But the order will most certainly be executed."

Mr Hannah had bought the former furniture store building on a commercial site for $80,000 in a bank mortgagee sale, aware that the Maori group was headquartered on the premises.

The group claim tangata whenua status over the land and have said they are not interested in the building - only the land on which they claim to have native title allowing them to stay.

Mr Blaikie has described their claim as nonsensical.

One of the group, Gina Craig, is the widow of the property's former owner. The property was put up for sale by TSB Bank when the mortgage was not paid.

Mr Hannah, a Sydney-based investor who owns several other properties in Kaikohe, said today he thought the property could be a bargain when the bank put it up for sale.

"I put in a dismal offer ($80,000) and got it. The government valuation was $405,000 but the value had been destroyed by closing the doors and putting up trespass signs all over it," Mr Hannah said.

He would not have the court eviction order finalised until 4.30pm.

"That's not a problem though. We've got this far now. If they're (Nga Uri o Tupoto) still there next week, I'd like their eviction to be Monday morning, but maybe we're looking at Tuesday or Wednesday."

Mr Hannah told NZPA he would be "pursuing" police over the issue and would expect early action next week. He's unsure what he'll do with the property when he takes possession.

"We'll just get into the building first, spruce it up and take it from there -- maybe start a business."

Mr Hannah and members of Nga Uri o Tupoto Maori Inc, believed to number about 15, have issued trespass notices against each other from the building in recent months.

Today, Gina Craig referred inquiries to John Harris, a member of the occupying group's "rangatira council," who told NZPA the group was working on a process to put in place,

What happened next was subject to that outcome.

"We're putting together information about our situation here. We're still deciding which court or avenue to take."

Mr Harris said they would know by early next week.

- NZPA