Legal steps to remove cabins

Legal action is being taken by the Queenstown Lakes District Council in respect of two Lakeview cabins, the owners of which cannot be traced.

The leases for the 77 privately owned cabins expired yesterday. Owners had been given the option of transferring their cabins to council ownership, or removing them at their own expense, as the council plans to redevelop the Lakeview land.

All tenants and resident owners who wanted to stay in the precinct were able to in the meantime, even if the cabin they were living in was being removed.

Council chief executive Adam Feeley said for most occupants the only change would be that the council would become their landlord and they would pay market rental under a standard periodic tenancy agreement.

Superannuitants had been offered a lower rent and a place on the waiting list for one of the council's pensioner units.

''We have been able to accommodate all the tenants previously renting private cabins. No one has been forced to leave Lakeview.''

Mr Feeley said the two cabins subject to legal action appeared to have been abandoned, so the legal process would centre around removing them.

One further cabin was on land held under a perpetual lease and not included in the transfer or remove arrangements the council had made with other cabin owners.

Of the 77 cabins, 48 had been transferred to the council by yesterday morning and another nine were awaiting the completion of paperwork.

Seventeen were being removed by their owners, with a deadline of October 30 - two of those had already been removed.

The council is planning a substantial redevelopment of the Lakeview land, above central Queenstown, which includes the proposed Queenstown Convention Centre.

Other plans for the site include public and commercial space, housing and visitor accommodation, a market square and Ngai Tahu's proposed hot pool development.

Mr Feeley said once the plans for the site had been confirmed and the timing of development finalised, the remaining cabins would be removed from Lakeview to enable the project to proceed.

 

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