Some Kaikōura residents have been left "disgusted" by a decision to move their property away from a dangerous cliff.
During the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake, massive boulders pummelled the small township of Rakautara.
After the quake the Kaikōura District Council red-stickered five homes and baches in the area due to that cliff - and variations of those stickers have stayed on since.
But after months of delays the cash strapped council has now made a decision on what it will do.
Property owner Jo Davidson was not impressed with the council's decision, which was to provide financial assistance to move their house away from the cliff.
Her late-father's former home has sat pretty much untouched since the quake.
"That has been met with great disgust by all of us," said Ms Davidson.
At a meeting in September between the five Rakautara residents with red stickered properties, all five made it very clear they did not want to live there again.
"Everybody there had no appetite for going back there... that was made very, very clear."
There are 15 properties in the Kaikōura district affected by land hazards.
The council has come up with different options for all of them, including two which are now safe to reoccupy.
All five Rakautara homeowners would get support to "relocate" their homes.
Three others are not safe to occupy and the council will offer financial assistance to help them "retreat".
Two more property owners would receive financial help to protect their homes.
The final three properties did not need any further action.
Kaikōura District Council chief executive Angela Oosthuizen has been leading the council's work on this.
Ms Oosthuizen said she understood that some landowners - especially those in Rakautara - might be frustrated by the council's decision.
"We do understand how the ratepayers feel," she said.
"I've been in contact with individual property owners over the past 24 hours to talk through the decisions and explain the process from here. There are a range of different outcomes for different situations and work is still needed to finalise the details.
"This will happen in the New Year."
Ms Oosthuizen said the council "took great care in making these decisions", balancing various considerations including "allowing people to move forward, create good long-term outcomes for the district, and providing timely, pragmatic solutions for addressing the life risk".
The government's given $1.5 million to the council to solve this problem for all 15 properties.
Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta agreed to an interview today after refusing several requests over the last few months.
"This has been a long process... what we've done is work with the council to find a solution where we were assessing risk to life and then ensuring an approach that was a lot more sustainable," she told Checkpoint.
"We believe we have worked constructively with the council and we've gotten to an outcome that - in terms of risk to life - we've assessed the most serious needs."
No more money had been requested in upcoming budgets on this issue, she said.
