$2.5m ratepayer-owned property being rented out for $300 a week

Monday, 19 August 2024

The Red House in Akaroa was purchased by Christchurch City Council in 2020. It is now being rented out at $300.

Almost four years ago Christchurch ratepayers paid $2.5 million for a culturally significant Akaroa home. Now it is being rented out for just $300 a week.

The Red House, situated on Beach Rd in the Banks Peninsula town, was supposed to help tell the story of the surrounding Takapūneke Reserve - an area of huge importance to Ngāi Tahu and classed as wāhi tapu (a sacred place) by Heritage New Zealand.

Yet, four years later the three bedroom, two bathroom house with harbour views remains a residential home, with Christchurch City Council renting it out for $300 a week.

A local real estate agent says a property like that could garner $500 a week on the Akaroa rental market and $1000 a week in Christchurch.

But the council says it has discounted the rent because the tenants maintain the extensive gardens. The property is 2864 square metres in size. The tenant’s presence also helps prevent the building from being vandalised, the council said.

The council’s last minute purchase in December 2020 protected the site from any inappropriate future development, the then mayor Lianne Dalziel said at the time.

Council’s acting head of parks Rupert Bool said the council had not budgeted for the cost of providing security or garden maintenance at the Red House.

The Red House will eventually help tell the story of the surrounding Takapūneke Reserve - an area of huge importance to Ngāi Tahu and classed as wāhi tapu (a sacred place) by Heritage New Zealand.

The rent would be higher if caring for the garden and property was not a key factor, he said.

The property was first rented out two years ago and the Te Pātaka o Rākaihautū Banks Peninsula Community Board last week decided to continue to rent the property to the same tenant for another two years, with no rent increase.

At the board meeting, council staff said the rent stayed the same because the market had dropped and the costs of labour and fuel had gone up.

Market rent data, based on bond information received by the Government’s Tenancy Services, states a median rent of $380 for Akaroa, $270 at the lower end and $480 at the upper end.

However, it does not differentiate between property sizes and location.

Harcourts Akaroa real estate agent Alan Nobbs said a property like that in Akaroa would usually have a rental of about $500 a week, and in Christchurch it could fetch around $1000.

However, the gardening could be worth a discount of about $100 a week, given its size, he said.

Nobbs said there were few full-time rental properties in Akaroa. Most properties were holiday lets and were empty most of the time.

The first stage of the Takapūneke Reserve development was completed in June 2022. Stage two is on track to finish in July next year.

Banks Peninsula councillor Tyrone Fields said he was comfortable with the level of rent being charged.

“It’s a practical solution to something that is a little bit bespoke. I’m comfortable with that outcome.”

The council still plans to incorporate the house into the reserve, but it was not scheduled to happen until 2031.

Some $20.6m has been set aside to develop the reserve over the next 10 years.

Ōnuku Rūnanga chairman Rik Tainui said the rūnanga was supportive of what the council was doing with the lease.

The rūnanga’s priority was to work with the council to complete stage two of the Takapūneke development by Matariki 2025.

The stage includes finishing two more takarangi (spiral patterns seen in Māori carving) and a path between them.

The first stage was completed in June 2022.

Takapūneke was once part of a major Ngāi Tahu flax trading village of chief Tē Maiharanui, who traded with whaling vessels.

In 1830, Tē Maiharanui boarded a British ship in the harbour and was captured and later killed by Te Rauparaha, who went ashore at Takapūneke and massacred the unsuspecting Ngāi Tahu inhabitants.

The massacre has a direct link to the claim of British sovereignty over New Zealand.

Several offensive developments have been built at Takapūneke Reserve over the years, despite objections from Ōnuku Rūnanga and Ngāi Tahu.

A sewage treatment plant was constructed in 1964, a move later described by a historian as the “ultimate in modern cultural oppression”.

In 1979, a now disused rubbish dump was established in the reserve, and in 1998-99 the Banks Peninsula District Council planned to subdivide land behind the Red House into 61 residential sections, a move considered abhorrent by Ōnuku Rūnanga.

The subdivision plan was eventually ditched and the area was deemed a reserve in 2006.