Tiny homes: Living small not so easy

When Pete Montgomery started building his tiny house on a friend's lifestyle block at Wainui, 20km south of Whakatāne, he had no idea he was doing anything illegal.

After pouring hours of hard work - and love - into producing a warm, weathertight, top-quality home in which to spend his twilight years, he is facing having it removed.

Montgomery's story was one of three shared at a community meeting to discuss Whakatāne District Council's restrictive rules relating to how many dwellings are allowed on rural properties.

Due to a family tragedy, the retired electrician and surgical theatre technician was left, in his mid-70s, without any means to rent or buy a home.

The family - himself, his daughter and son-in-law and their two children - had lived in Australia for 10 years. In 2014 they returned to New Zealand when his daughter was diagnosed with motor neuron disease. As Kiwis living in Australia, they had no access to the necessary home care support services to care for her.

"Living in Australia, for a Kiwi, was pretty tough, especially if you're sick," Montgomery said.

After their return, the family nursed her for six years. "We mucked in together and looked after her."

After her death, the family went their separate ways.

"When you have a child, you do whatever it takes to try to help them, including alternative therapies at $6000 a shot. It was financially crippling," he said. "In the course of those six years, basically we were all broke. I'm in my mid-70s now, so I can't buy a house. My pension isn't enough to cover a rental in Whakatāne at the moment. So, what do I do?"

Not wanting to "sponge off family", and having had some experience working with a builder, he thought, "right, I'll build myself a tiny house".

Wainui lifestyle property owners Ed Reid and Nicky Hampshire offered him a flat site on their property that was previously the old Wainui School tennis court. Reid said the decision to allow construction of the dwelling had not been for any financial gain and he had no idea that there was anything wrong with what they were doing.

"The deal was that he could build his tiny house here in exchange for a couple of days' work a week around the property," he said.

When Reid bought the property, it was within the Ōpōtiki district where the council allows up to three dwellings on each property.

Since then, it has been transferred to the Whakatāne district where the district plan restricts dwellings to one a property, regardless of size.

Reid said Montgomery had quickly become an important part of the caring community that had built up in the neighbourhood.

"Having him on the property had transformed our lives and the lives of other people around us."

He said the tiny house had been built with meticulous care.

"The first thing he did was go and buy a copy of the building code. It's beautifully made. The quality he has put into that house is amazing."

Local Democracy Reporting visited the house the day after the meeting and a found a warm, weathertight, though small home with recycled rimu parquet flooring, lead light stained glass windows, gable windows, a loft bedroom and plenty of other examples of painstaking workmanship.

Plans for a bathroom and kitchenette have had to be shelved.

"A couple of months ago, we had a knock on the door from someone who had been contracted by the planning department to get rid of it," Montgomery said.

A council employee had seen the tiny home from the road and reported it. Contacting the council was an unhelpful experience.

"There was no question of, 'how can we help you to do this?' The whole emphasis was, 'you've got to be gone'."

"What do I do now? Do I go and live in my car?" Montgomery asked.

"This isn't a 'poor me' sob story. I just wanted to show that a lot of people who end up living in their car, it's not because of their own doing."

Large turnout for meeting

About 120 people crowded the Knox Presbyterian Church for the community meeting - a turnout that took organisers completely by surprise.

Among the attendees were five Whakatāne district councillors, deputy mayor Lesley Immink, Andrew Iles, Nandor Tanczos, Toni Boynton and Ngāpera Rangiaho. Whakatāne council chief executive Steph O'Sullivan, development and environmental services general manager David Bewley and resource consent manager Mike Avery also attended.

Wainui resident Ruth Gerzon outlined the key issue for the meeting, which was that the Whakatāne District Plan allowed only one dwelling on every residential rural property, or lot. Other than accessory buildings used for habitation, such as sleep-outs, which still require anyone sleeping there to use facilities in the main house, any other dwellings are a discretionary activity requiring consent.

"Apparently, even a caravan is one of these. So, if you live in a caravan on a rural property this covers you as well. It's not just tiny houses," Gerzon said.

She said the council had a role to play to look after people's welfare in the community and helping people live more sustainably.

"We have a lot of people who are homeless, and we have a lot of people who are living in garages and sub-standard accommodation."

Many people were also wishing to live a smaller, more sustainable existence.

Gerzon said she knew there were many non-consented buildings around the district and the council seemed to be "quite capricious" about how it regulated them.

She questioned whether pursuing them was a good use of ratepayers' money, and whether the policies were rational in the context of the current housing crisis.

"It seems to be a very simple thing that the council could do, to say that if a house is below this size, it doesn't need to have the same kind of consent. There needs to be a simple, affordable, flexible consents process."

She pointed out that Ōpōtiki District Council had a simpler system. It allowed up to three dwellings on a property, providing each had its own site of 400 square metres or more.

Councillors and council staff also had a turn to speak.

Immink said she believed it was an important issue with climate change and housing prices driving many New Zealanders to want to downsize.

"We are just as frustrated as some of you when we start looking at the difference between Ōpōtiki's regulatory framework versus ours. It's not fit for purpose going forward into the future when you look at the dynamic of our community.

"We will be working hard behind the scenes to see what we can do and how we can implement change in policy. It won't happen overnight, but we do want to find some quick solutions."

Chief executive Steph O'Sullivan said she also felt it was an important issue.

"We're really concerned about housing and homelessness and sustainability, reducing our footprint. This is us here tonight, in force, to be able to listen to you."

Retirement dream shattered

Tauranga woman Jane Kay was 18 months off turning 70 when she decided to retire.

Her daughter and son-in-law invited her to build a tiny home on their six-hectare Otakiri lifestyle property. She ordered a 37.5 square metre tiny home from an Auckland company, and it arrived at the end of November.

"The plan was to have it connected up to the water and electricity ready for me to move into at Christmas time."

Kay had been advised that if the dwelling was transportable, council consent was not required. While this is the case in some districts, the rules are not consistent around the country as she was soon to find out.

"I have to admit, I was gullible. I just believed it," Kay said. "A council staff member drove past and saw the house and told my daughter that, in fact, I should have had consent for the house. It was a hugely stressful moment for me."

Despite the tiny home coming with all the compliance certificates required by Auckland City Council where it had been built, Kay was given a list of items from Whakatāne District Council to tick off before she could apply for consent.

Among these were installing a new septic tank as the one she had planned to connect to was not compliant. She then needed to engage a geotechnical engineer to prepare a ground compliance report, which took three months.

"I now have to engage another engineer to design the foundation. I resubmit my application for consent from the Whakatāne District Council, and of course, when I get that back, only then does all the work start. So, I've been homeless for six months and it looks like I will be for quite a few months ahead of me."

Kay said due to the added expense she had had to return to work, and it seemed her tiny house would need to be a permanent structure, rather than the movable one she had envisioned.

"I had hoped to be able to move it if my daughter and son-in-law ever decided to sell the property. If they sell it now, I'll never talk to them again."

Council chief executive Steph O'Sullivan said she felt companies building and selling tiny homes had a responsibility to provide good information about the rules and regulations with different councils.

"To be sold a house out of Auckland and not be informed properly about what the rules and regulations are with different councils is not on and I think it's irresponsible."

Rude awakening for single mum

A former Ōpōtiki woman, who asked not to be named said a Whakatāne District Council contractor entered her home without asking permission while she and her daughter were sick with Covid-19.

The event occurred about a year ago. The single mother was living with her daughter in a caravan with an awning on her Wainui property.

"I was in bed with my daughter. We were both pretty sick, and the place was a mess. At 8am, I opened my eyes, to see a man outside my bedroom. He said a complaint had been made about my home being a biohazard. He didn't call out or knock. Just came right on in.

"He asked how many people live here. He asked how I went to the toilet and he asked what I did with my grey water. I told him to get out and that I had Covid."

The woman said she had found herself in the position of needing to find a home after a property division.

"It was just before house prices went crazy and finding a rental became impossible. I found out that banks did not give mortgages to single mums, no matter how great your credit record is.

"At the time, with the money I had, I had two choices. I could try to find a rental, which was pretty impossible, would mean an unsettled future for my daughter and I would have to watch my hard-earned investment over 15 years pay for someone else's mortgage. Or I could take the only place I could afford and, essentially, carve out a space."

She bought land.

"I'm capable, I'm able bodied and I'm a fast learner. I installed solar using YouTube videos, bought a water tank and started harvesting rainwater. I researched methods for composting toilets and started studying the best ways to use that compost.

"I carved out a warm, dry living situation. The majority of our neighbours were supportive and interested in our progress, always popping in to see how we were going and asking about how we did certain things."

After the incident with the council contractor, she complained to the council. She described the response as "cold and unapologetic".

She asked what the council thought the consequence would be if they allowed people to live in tiny homes and caravans without consent.

"Off-grid, tiny living is not for everyone. It's not like everyone is going to rush out and buy a tiny house and put it on any piece of land. But for those who want to, or need to, it should be achievable and have a reasonable cost without over-the-top interference. We have the right to shelter ourselves.

"Each person in this room is only a natural disaster, a car accident, a relationship break-up, a property division, an illness or some other life event, from being forced to reconsider their options and downsize. We just want to live on our land quietly, utilising the things that we created to live gently on the planet without being intimidated and to be treated with respect and manners."

Council chief executive Steph O'Sullivan said the circumstances described were "completely unacceptable and would be investigated".

Local Democracy Reporting approached the council this week to find out how the investigation was going.

Development and environmental services general manager David Bewley said the allegations had been unknown to staff before attending the meeting.

"All allegations of inappropriate conduct by staff are thoroughly investigated. In this case, an investigation has started but hasn't been completed. Any such allegations should be reported to the chief executive at the time to ensure a swift and appropriate response is possible."

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