Cabin Leases to Expire

With the 13-year licence lease due to expire on 78 cabins in the Queenstown camping ground next year, Council has confirmed its long-term intention that the cabins will be removed. The licences to occupy Council land expire on 30 September 2015.

The Queenstown Lakes District Council has written to the owners to confirm that their licences to occupy the land will not be extended once they expire. Mayor Vanessa van Uden said the decision was made at last week’s Council meeting.

“While it will no doubt be a sentimental wrench for some owners, the reality has been in the making for more than a decade and the terms of the lease were clear and finite,” Mayor van Uden said.

In order to assist, Council has provided cabin owners with three options for deciding how and when to remove the cabins.
1. They may make their own arrangements to obtain consents and remove the cabin by 30 September, at their own cost. The work will need to be coordinated with the Council and any asbestos in the building must be identified and removed by an approved specialist;
2. They may pay the Council a fixed fee of $10,000 (including GST) to remove the cabin on their behalf; or
3. They may transfer ownership of the cabin to the Council, at no cost, which will assume all responsibility for the cabin, including its removal.

Mayor van Uden said it was important that the Council also contacted the tenants of rented cabins to make sure they understood that the deadline of 30 September 2015 had been confirmed with cabin owners and would not be extended. “Should an owner choose to transfer a cabin to the Council, it may continue to be rented to tenants on the basis that the arrangement is unlikely to be long-term. There is no value for anyone in empty houses on the land, albeit for the short term.”

“We have also been in touch with two of the tenants who are eligible for accommodation in the Council’s pensioner housing to offer them a priority place on the waiting list,” she said. “We are working with a further two tenants who need extra support to see they have an alternative option.”

APL Property Ltd, which manages the Council’s properties, will liaise with cabin owners to ensure the removal process is coordinated.

ENDS

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