Court order for Wanaka property

Safety concerns for the tenants of a Wanaka property have prompted the Queenstown Lakes District Council to seek a Court Order to prohibit its occupation pending the completion of work to make it safe,” Queenstown Lakes District Council general manager corporate and regulatory Roger Taylor said.

“The Order provides that the owner of the property situated at Tenby Street cannot use the building for residential activities until further order of the Court,’ Mr Taylor said.

The Court found the circumstances justified issuing of an interim injunction. The Court accepted that one of the justifications for this was that the building was dangerous.

“The council has been through the process of affixing a dangerous building notice to the building that prohibits occupation of parts of the building. This notice was not complied with,” he said.

A notice to fix parts of the building was also issued.

“Despite that the owner has failed to carry out the work required to remove the danger to the occupants and the dwelling has continued to be tenanted,” Mr Taylor said.

Installation of fire rated ceiling linings and the provision of adequate fire egress routes, as required, had not been carried out, despite requests.

“As the dwelling currently stands the council held very real concerns for the safety of the people living in the building. Unfortunately the owner has not taken the opportunity to rectify the situation and we have had no choice but to act,” Mr Taylor said.

The tenants had been advised of the situation and would not be allowed to stay at the property from today.

“We are ensuring that the tenants are given every assistance through social agencies to find alternative lodgings and encouraging them to seek legal advice in terms of their tenancy agreement. They are the innocent party in these proceedings but we hope they would agree that their safety is paramount,” Mr Taylor said.

Every opportunity had been afforded the owner of the building to rectify matters before the council was forced to seek a court order.

“It’s most unfortunate that the situation has deteriorated to the point where we have had to get the Court to require the tenants to leave but the council has an obligation to protect the safety of all its residents,” Mr Taylor said.