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The $21 million sale of Kingston Station to a Queenstown adventure-tourism pioneer remains in legal limbo.
The High Court has rejected a bid by the owner of the sprawling high country station, Tim Tayler, to cancel his deal with AJ Hackett Bungy co-founder Henry van Asch.
In the latest of a string of legal rulings on the dispute, Associate Judge Lester dismissed Kingston Station Ltd’s (KSL) application for a summary judgment — to rule in its favour without a full trial — meaning the matter will likely go to trial later this month.
The legal wrangle between Tayler and Van Asch kicked off after a condition of the sale — a Land Information New Zealand (Linz) consent to transfer the station’s pastoral lease — wasn’t met by the May 7 deadline.
In response, Van Asch successfully applied for an interim injunction the same day, preventing KSL from cancelling the deal or selling the station to another buyer.
At last month’s hearing, KSL asked the court to lift the injunction so it could cancel the deal.
However, Lester ruled the company was obliged to keep working towards obtaining the Linz consent, despite difficulties over an agreement between the parties to allow Tayler to continue living in the station’s homestead after the sale.
Described in court as “very large and valuable”, the 26,000ha-plus station is one of the biggest in the South Island, comprising a Crown pastoral lease and two much smaller freehold titles.
Stretching from near Kingston township over the Hector Mountains and into the Nevis Valley, it provides part of the scenic backdrop for the historic Kingston Flyer tourist train.
At a second High Court hearing in June, KSL sought permission to issue a cancellation notice for the deal, arguing the consent condition had expired and the injunction was stopping it from exercising its contractual rights.
However, Justice Lisa Preston declined permission, saying the question of whether KSL had been entitled to cancel the sale on May 7 remained central to the case, and needed to be considered at a full trial.
Preston allowed Van Asch to continue discussions with Linz over the consent application, noting the Crown agency had not formally refused consent and restarting the process could cause a hiatus of up to two years.
In the latest decision, Lester said KSL had not taken all reasonable steps to satisfy the consent condition for the sale before the May 7 deadline.
The consent application, lodged with Linz in February, initially ran into problems because it appeared to cover only part of the pastoral lease, with 26ha earmarked for sale to Queenstown’s council for a wastewater treatment plant for the Kingston township.
That issue appeared resolvable, but Linz had also raised concerns about Tayler’s proposed ongoing occupation of the homestead, the court said.
It had advised that long-term accommodation on a pastoral lease had to serve a farming purpose, and Tayler’s proposed occupation did not qualify.
Discussions with Linz after May 7 had identified a potential solution, but both parties had left too little time to obtain consent, with serious work not beginning until months after the sale agreement was signed.
Van Asch declined to comment when contacted by Mountain Scene.
A substantive hearing is scheduled for September 22.
