Central Otago District Council regulatory services manager Lee Webster this week told Lou Farrand her cottage would be deemed an unconsented building and she did not need to pursue the retrospective consent process.
There were conditions - she cannot live in it or rent it out.
Mrs Farrand was delighted with both Mr Webster and the outcome.
"I don't have to be in there to love it. I actually would rather look at it. I can come in and make a cake occasionally.
"It stores my bike, it stores my golf clubs, it stores my rotary hoe. And it's just lovely doing that."
The building has no plumbing or electricity and consists of an open space with a fireplace at one end and a coal range at the other.
In December, Mrs Farrand got a phone call from a council enforcement officer telling her she would have to seek retrospective permissions for the "extensive modifications" carried out on the building.
If she did not she would have to remove the unconsented work, including a new roof and and ceiling.
At the time, Mr Webster said a visit to the property was not necessary as the council had details regarding the unconsented work from Mrs Farrand’s social media.
Council claimed the building was in a collapsed state when Mrs Farrand began working on it.
The missing wall had not collapsed, but been removed when the building was used as a blacksmiths.
After months of letters, phone calls and fines being issued, Mrs Farrand finally sat down with Mr Webster and they began to make progress, even if their first meeting did not start well.
"I wasn't very civil. And he sat there and I sat there across the table and he had the notice to fix sitting there.
"He said something and I said ‘well, for a kick-off I've had a gutsful of that document’.
"I said it's full of lies and rubbish and he said ‘well, I'll put that aside’. And from then on he was just amazing."
The turning point came when Mr Webster visited the cottage, Mrs Farrand said.
When the email arrived on Tuesday confirming the building was unconsented and could remain that way unless anyone wanted to live in it or rent it out, Mrs Farrand struggled to believe the battle was over.
"It was a dream come true."
While she was hugely relieved the threat of expensive consents or having to undo her work was gone, the most important thing was the building she calls the poor little darling was secure, Mrs Farrand said.
"She's here, she's happy. She's lovely and she's now preserved and protected."
