In the meantime, the Queenstown Lakes District Council has given mooring permit holders a deadline of June next year to get resource consents in order.
Resource consents have been required for moorings and jetties since the Resource Management Act 1991 was passed, but the review has unsettled many mooring owners who thought they had existing use rights.
It appears a law requiring owners to upgrade a pre-1991 mooring by 2005 had not been properly understood.
The council began reviewing the district’s jetties and moorings in December last year, to validate information about them and ensure they meet health and safety requirements.
Wanaka district councillor Quentin Smith, a former resource management consultant, has been following the case.
Cr Smith confirmed this week the consent issue does not include berths at the Wanaka Marina, which is owned by a company.
Swing moorings were the central issue, he said.
They comprise a heavy mooring block (which sits on the bottom of the lake), shackles, chains, a rope and a buoy.
In Wanaka, most of these moorings are in Roys Bay, between the marina and Eely Point.
Cr Smith said he understood just 10% of the moorings had resource consents and they had not been correctly administered for a long time.
He acknowledged owners had been paying licences, permits and other fees associated with the moorings but said that those were separate issues to resource consent.
"The QLDC hasn’t changed its policy or made any decision regarding the administration of them, other than to gather information about whether they are compliant with the Resource Management Act and the district plan. That is a really important point. There has been no change to their status or policies," Cr Smith said.
There could be several ways to resolve the problem and there were no plans for enforcement action in the meantime, he said.
Wanaka Marine owner Ian Brown says he did not know he needed to get a resource consent when he bought his mooring several years ago.
It was not clear if moorings would hold their value or how much a consent would cost, he said.
He sold his mooring last year but when the review emerged, the buyer wanted his money back.
Mr Brown said while he had no problem with that, he was concerned mooring owners would be individually charged resource consent fees and suggested the council should cover everyone under a collective consent.
He also felt if some moorings were now deemed illegal, then the council had been illegally collecting annual fees for many years.
"The QLDC belongs to the ratepayers and should be working for us, not against us ... The communication has been really bad," Mr Brown said.
Cr Smith said more time was needed to fully understand the situation.
A QLDC communications said the review was a "big undertaking", the process had been "ongoing and complicated" and the council had been communicating directly with mooring and jetty owners.
The council was aware of 242 private moorings in Lake Wakatipu, 75 in Lake Wanaka, one in Lake Hawea and one in Lake Hayes.
