Hastings: Farmhouse Lodge in Fernhill could lose its tenants in council crackdown
A lodge and cottage set-up that provides low-rent housing for close to 60 people in Hawke’s Bay could end with mass evictions as part of a council crackdown.
However, the owners of the well-known Farmhouse Lodge in Fernhill, Dawson Bliss and wife Novia, are hopeful tenants will be able to stay for the long run, and that mediation will help resolve council concerns.
About 50 people live on the sprawling property, off State Highway 50, mainly in tenanted cabins.
A small number of people also stay in a two-storey building, once known as the Fernhill Hotel, which is mainly reserved for visitors or relatives.
In November, council officers, accompanied by a large police presence, carried out a six-hour search warrant of the property.
That search related to suspected offences of the Resource Management Act.
Hastings District Council (HDC) has now made an application in the Environment Court for enforcement orders at Farmhouse Lodge.
Specifically, the council is seeking a requirement that “all tenants on the subject site” have their tenancies terminated, unless the buildings and activities comply with an approved Buildings and Activities Plan (BAP).
A BAP is effectively a legal layout of the property, and includes which buildings are lawfully entitled to remain on site.
Mediation will take place before that application can be heard in court.
Mediation has been set down for around July, between the council and Bliss.
Pending the outcome of mediation, further directions will be issued around whether or not the application will be heard in court.
Hastings District Council has declined to comment on the matter while it is before the Environment Court, including exactly which buildings and activities need to comply.
Bliss claimed the dwellings were compliant.
“They are all built to the building code ... all the cottages have been built to code.”
He said it was his understanding the issues stemmed from the location of the dwellings, and alleged encroachment on Hotel Rd.
Bliss said he was hopeful the issues could be worked through during mediation.
He said housing was “the worst it’s been in the history of New Zealand” and “now they are trying to evict 50 or 60 tenants”.
Bliss said he was disappointed that the council had not communicated better with tenants, many of whom had mental health needs and were now anxious about their living situation.
He said he’d explained the situation to tenants and they did not wish to leave.
Bliss has owned the property for more than 20 years.
He said the council threatened to close Farmhouse Lodge down about a decade ago but was unsuccessful.
In December, Farmhouse Lodge avoided serious damage when a grass fire on a hill at its back spread rapidly, destroying structures further up the hill.
Investigations were continuing earlier this year into that fire.