Janice Norman-Oke's tree house has upset neighbours and the Dunedin City Council wants it down. Photo / Otago Daily Times
Dunedin City Council's demand that a family tear down a much-loved treehouse over safety concerns has been slammed as "ridiculous" by a Mosgiel mother.
Janice Norman-Oke, of Mosgiel, said the council called on them to remove the treehouse after a neighbour complained it was affecting their privacy.
She said her father Trevor Oke built the treehouse for his three grandsons three months ago.
It had brought hours of joy for her children Ethan, 12, Devon, 10, and Logan, 6.
Following the call from the neighbour the council ruled the treehouse to have breached section 17 of the Building Act 2004, which states that all building structures must comply with the building code.
The council has defended its actions saying it was obliged to follow up once a complaint had been made and had "no choice" but to uphold building laws.
Under the Building Code, the treehouse required a building consent due to the fact that the safety railing installed on the structure's platform was over 3m high.
Even if the treehouse's height was within the legal limit, it did not "meet building code requirements around structural integrity and safety from falls'', the council said in a statement.
Ms Norman-Oke, a health and safety consultant, said she had made no progress on saving the treehouse since the "ridiculous'' ruling, but was adamant it was safe.
Ms Norman-Oke was ordered by the council to tear the treehouse down last month, but said her father, the only person that could dismantle it, recently had surgery on his spine.
Nevertheless, Ms Norman-Oke said she would be willing to work with the council to help make the structure compliant with the Building Code standards, but she was unsure of what was needed for it to comply.
"They need to tell us what to do to stay compliant,'' she said.
"I'm hoping they allow it to stay.''
Council building solutions principal adviser Neil McLeod said in a statement the council did not make building laws but was required to uphold them.
"The DCC doesn't go looking for issues like this, but we received a complaint about the tree house which we were obliged to follow up."
"The structure doesn't fit any of the exemptions under the Building Act so our staff have no option but to enforce the rules," he said.
In a statement provided to other media, the council said it would have been happy to provide "further clarification" over the breach.
While the original complaint was about privacy, this was not a factor in the council's decision.
"Although we were not concerned about privacy issues, once staff were aware of the tree house they were obliged to follow up on the issues relating to the Building Act and the Building Code."
The council had only received one other complaint about a tree house in the past three years.
"This was investigated and the structure, which did not meet building code requirements or set back requirements under the Dunedin District Plan, had to be removed."
