No Surprises in Lakeview Cabin Tenancies

In 2002, the Queenstown Lakes District Council made a considerable investment and some tough decisions to resolve ongoing issues around the then campground site.

As a consequence, the Council negotiated the purchase of 90 cabins and agreed a licence to occupy – complete with sunset clause – with a further 77 cabin owners. The licence for 13 years involved payment of a ground lease, which is currently $5,200 per annum.

Licence holders have always understood that the licence would expire in September 2015 with no right of renewal and an obligation to remove the cabins.

“That is what they signed up to in 2002, or when they purchased the license in subsequent years. There are no surprises,” QLDC Mayor Vanessa van Uden said today.

Understandably, she said, the matter had become intertwined with the Lakeview plan change and some cabin owners saw opposition to the plan change as an opportunity to forestall or change the terms of their licence.

“They are in fact two very different issues. Regardless of the outcome of the plan change, the Council has been clear of its intentions regarding the cabins,” she said.

In December, licensees were given 10 months’ notice (to 30 September 2015) where the Council offered three options:

• Remove the cabin at the owners own cost as per the licence

• Pay the Council to remove the cabin

• Effectively ‘gift’ the cabin (this enables the Council to sell the cabin or put in place a short term tenant to cover the cost of removal).

The Council had been clear with owners and tenants that it planned to offer short term tenancy on remaining cabins (those not removed and considered habitable). This would be offered in the first instance to occupying licensees and existing tenants.

“Our intention in the short term is that wherever possible cabins will not sit empty and tenants and owners will continue to have a roof over their heads in the short term. But it is not forever and people will need to start to seriously consider their options,” Mayor van Uden said.

The Council had always acknowledged that for some owners, the reality that their tenure could come to an end would be distressing – even though they had known this for 13 years.

“Naturally for some of the owners this has become an emotive issue and I and several Council staff have been personally attacked. My hope is that the same energy can be channelled into finding alternate accommodation solutions and constructively helping friends and neighbours in need of support, to work through this challenge,” she said.

The reality was that ratepayers, through the Council, were not responsible for providing alternative accommodation: “but we are trying to help,” she said. The Council was talking to another party about whether some or all of the cabins could be moved to an alternative site to be rented. It had also factored in high-density residential accommodation as part of the overall master planning at Lakeview.

The removal or demolition of privately owned cabins was always the responsibility of the licence holders, and this was known from the outset, Mayor van Uden said. “Again, that is what they signed up to.

“For others, we recognise that the cabins have enabled people to live affordably for years, in some cases on a fixed or low income, and therefore the reality is hard to accept and the cost of removal in some cases prohibitive,” Mayor van Uden said.

While the Council could not pass on this cost to the ratepayer, it had sought to find solutions that might mitigate or avoid the cost to owners.

Further, Mayor van Uden emphasised that a campaign by some cabin owners to solicit concern for the future of a Council reserve (James Clousten Park) was misguided. “They can rest assured, it is not in the mix,” she said.

In short:

• Of the 167 cabins on the Lakeview site, 77 are privately owned on land held by a licence from the Council which expires on 30 September 2015.

• The remaining 90 cabins are owned by QLDC.

• QLDC understands there are between 18-24 owner-occupiers of the 77 privately owned cabins and the rest are rented.

• To date, 27 owners have indicated they have a preference to gift the cabins to QLDC (at no further cost to them); 2 have indicated an intention to remove the cabins from the site. This indicates that the Council is likely to be in a position to offer a number of short term tenancies.

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