The Government's offer to pay half the 2007 rateable value to uninsured properties and bare land in Christchurch's red zone has been declared unlawful and the Crown has been asked to reconsider, in a split decision by the Supreme Court.
In a judgment released yesterday, Justices John McGrath, Susan Glazebrook and Terence Arnold upheld decisions in the lower courts, saying the Government circumvented the appropriate response by not developing a recovery plan and that the purchases could not lawfully be made without one, which would have demanded community input. A delay in the final decision exacerbated things for the house owners, as the area deteriorated over that period.
"In making the decision as to any differential treatment of the uninsured and uninsurable, the recovery purpose of the act which, among other things, is to restore the 'social, economic, cultural, and environmental well-being' of Christchurch's communities, was not property considered," the judgment, delivered by Justice Glazebrook, said. "We therefore consider that we should make a declaration that the decisions relating to the uninsured and uninsurable in September 2012 were not lawfully made.
"The minister and the chief executive should be directed to reconsider the decisions in light of this judgment."
The 46 property owners of uninsured properties or vacant land, known as the Quake Outcasts, and developer Fowler Developments, challenged the lawfulness of the Crown's offers, saying they were not in accordance with the act and breached their human rights. At the heart of the dispute was that insured property owners were offered 100 per cent of the 2007 value, something not open to bare land owners, which cannot be insured, or the uninsured property owners who fell outside the net.
