Lianne Dalziel
Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Spokesperson
20 February 2013
Cool-off period needed for half-RV offer
Gerry Brownlee must implement a cooling-off period for owners of red-zone commercial premises and bare land so they
aren’t forced to accept the unfair half-RV offer, says Labour’s Canterbury Earthquake Recovery spokesperson Lianne
Dalziel.
“There is nothing fair about the 50 per cent offer the Government has made to owners of insured commercial premises and
owners of bare sections in the residential red zone.
“Families and business-owners are being rushed into decisions which could see them out of pocket by tens of thousands.
We need a cooling off period which is why I am calling on the Government to extend the deadline, so common sense can
prevail.
“The McLean family is a typical example. They have been given only three months to make a decision which will leave them
out of pocket by just over $80,000.
“And that’s just the loss caused by halving the rating valuation – they are prepared to forgo the market value, which is
what they paid for this desirable Brooklands section.
“All they want is to be offered rateable value in the same way as every other red zone property has been offered.
“They say that there are different rules for different people which is not fair.
In their email they said:
‘To add insult to injury, our neighbours in Brooklands who were approximately 4 weeks off finishing their new house have
been offered the two buyout options offered to other red zone property owners despite not having paid any insurance
(except builder’s construction insurance paid by the builder). This contradicts Brownlee's remarks regarding uninsured
land owners not having paid any EQC contributions, as people with partially finished dwellings (such as our neighbours)
have not paid any EQC contributions as they too were not paying insurance!’
“Gerry Brownlee can’t or won’t say why the McLeans were treated differently from their neighbours or why a business
owner who was fully insured will only be offered half the value for the land when someone operating exactly the same
business from home would be offered 100 per cent.
“He needs to answer these questions. The McLeans are right there are different rules for different people and it isn’t
fair,” says Lianne Dalziel.
ENDS