Matthew Robertson and Fiona Shaw have been given until next Tuesday to remove a shipping container from the grass verge outside their home, where it has sat since November, or start paying permit fees.
Mr Robertson said they purchased the $11,500 container to slot into a renovated garage, storing art supplies and equipment from their art class business Ma Fi Arts, which shut last year after running for more than two decades.
Mr Robertson said he was not told of a $49.50 per day charge or a time-limit in November and the deadline-imposed stress was taking a physical and emotional toll on the pair.
However, the Dunedin City Council said the couple were informed of the conditions and had already been given a fee-free extension — container placement was regulated for the benefit of the whole community, it said.
‘‘If I'd known in advance this was going to be the case, I would have cleared the garage, which was chock-a-block full of stuff ... done all the preliminary work and then, when it got delivered, it would have got straight in,’’ Mr Robertson said.
They were also trying condense equipment and supplies from their old studios at King Edward Technical College into smaller rooms, which they rented.
Mr Robertson said they were moving as fast as possible but were both managing injuries exacerbated by heavy lifting.
The process had been ‘‘gruelling’’, Ms Shaw said.
Mr Robertson asked for a further fee-free extension of about six months and said, as far as the couple knew, there had been no complaints about the container.
A council spokesman said it had been in regular contact with the couple and had tried, where possible, to accommodate their requests.
In November, it granted them temporary permission, without fees, to place a container on the road reserve for one month.
A retrospective permit with zero fees was granted in January as a ‘‘goodwill gesture’’.
‘‘We also made it clear at this time that once it expired, a permit would be needed and fees would apply, and that no further extensions to the fee-free permission would be given,’’ he said.
