The Front Page: Neighbours at war – can developers force you to leave your house?

Pensioners Owen and Jane Hayward have refused to sell their Ōrākei home to developers Equinox Group. Photo / Michael Craig

A dispute in Ōrākei between two pensioners and a property developer has served as a reminder of how acrimonious relations can become when the builders move into town.

Owen and Jane Hayward claim they have been trespassed from the businesses surrounding their Ōrākei apartment for their refusal to sell to property developer Kerry Knight – but Knight says he’s the one being harassed by the octogenarians.

Speaking to The Front Page podcast, senior property lawyer Jonathan Wood says there isn’t much that can be done to avoid this kind of dispute.

“It’s this weird aspect of New Zealand law that we don’t have personal injury claims, whereas in other common law countries, that forms a significant bulk of litigation that’s undertaken,” says Wood.

“Because we’re not doing that, a large part of our civil claims are focused on property and on things as trivial as fencing disputes.”

Wood says developers need to be strategic in their plans if they want to minimise the risk of upsetting the neighbours in the vicinity of the area they’re trying to develop.

But what happens if some neighbours refuse to compromise? Is it possible for developers to force them to leave?

Wood says land ownership rights are highly protected and landowners can only be compelled to move under very specific circumstances.

“There’s very little somebody can do to take your property rights away from you,” says Wood.

The most common exception to this rule, he says, is when the developer is the Crown and requires land for public works.

This includes the building of roads, railways or other infrastructure necessary to develop an area.

Wood says while homeowners can be compelled to move, the compulsion element is rarely litigated.

“What’s usually litigated is the amount of compensation,” says Wood, noting that even such cases are exceedingly rare.

“In this country, we have a District Court that hears 20,000 odd cases a year and a High Court that hears low thousands a year. And yet, the Land Valuation Tribunal, which hears these kinds of disputes, has so far this year heard two. So they’re extraordinarily rare.”

Both the cases that were disputed came down to whether the homeowner felt they were getting fair compensation for their property.

• So, what’s the best way to avoid these disputes?
• Why are neighbours so willing to fight on these issues?
• Are there any law changes that could ease these relations?
• And what effect will the removal of the Resource Management Act have on building?

Listen to the full episode of The Front Page for an in-depth discussion on all these issues.

The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. It is presented by Damien Venuto, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in business reporting who joined the Herald in 2017.

You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.