Gisborne in February. Photo: Gisborne Herald / Ben Cowper
Holiday homes and the uninsured will be given equal status to insured family homes under Gisborne's cyclone buyout scheme.
The Gisborne District Council has released its final policy, showing just who is eligible for what, and how it made those decisions.
The scheme, created in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle and half-funded by central government, has one key objective: to help people get out of harm's way.
There are three caveats: Only purchase as much land as necessary to meet this objective, demonstrate manaakitanga to help communities recover quickly, and demonstrate responsible and prudent expenditure of ratepayer funds.
There are two paths a buyout can take - firstly, a "property purchase offer" where the council buys the house and land and takes ownership of the title. Or, a "residential relocation offer" where the homeowner keeps the title, but the council pays them a grant to move off the at-risk area and puts a covenant on the land (or part of the land) to prevent any future homes being built.
Mixed-use properties are only eligible for a relocation offer, and all properties more than one hectare in size are classed as "mixed-use" - even if they weren't being used for farming or business at the time of the cyclone.
Council officers said it would be too big an admin task to assess each of those properties case-by-case, with the added uncertainty caused by the passing of nine months since the storm, and too expensive to buy out whole farms.
Insured versus uninsured homes
One area up for debate was the treatment of uninsured and underinsured homes.
In a council meeting on Wednesday, Councillor Colin Alder said some community members had told him it was unfair for the insured to be paid the full amount. He said he agreed.
"It's the signal and message that we're sending to people... 'don't bother insuring'."
Council papers showed category 3 landowners surveyed for feedback on the draft policy were most vocal about this issue, and many wanted uninsured and under-insured homes to be treated differently for the sake of fairness.
However, council officers found this situation actually only applied to one property, whose owners had discovered after they bought the place they could not get cover.
Therefore, officers said it would be "inefficient" to come up with a way of managing this case differently, and ultimately disincentivise these people from moving out of harm's way - the primary objective of the policy.
Gabrielle damage in Te Karaka, northwest of Gisborne. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Holiday and investment homes
The council decided secondary homes, including rentals and holiday homes, would be treated the same as a family home.
Council officers noted there was "a very low percent of holiday homes in category 3" and "for the reasons of efficiency and reducing risk", they recommended treating them the same.
"Like the insurance issue, our recommendation may have been different if we had a larger percent of holiday homes because the financial impact would be more significant," the policy document reads.
Empty land where people intended to build
Contrary to what was decided by councils in Hawke's Bay, Gisborne has not decided to pay out in cases where someone had intended to build, but had not done so yet.
In Hawke's Bay, a buyout might be offered to someone intending to build a home on otherwise empty land. Proof of this could be a resource consent, house plans, finances already obtained for the build, or construction having already begun.
But in Gisborne this wasn't on offer, with council officers saying: "Purchasing sites where there is no dwelling is not necessary for the purpose of moving persons out of harm's way, and it would be inconsistent with the aim of council purchasing no more land than is necessary."
Waimata River in Gisborne, as seen from Stafford Street looking towards the Tainui Sea Scouts clubrooms on 15 February 2023. Photo: RNZ / Kate Green
Valuations
The value of homes would be decided by a council-commissioned registered valuer.
The homeowner could get a private valuation done at their own cost, and if there was a disparity, the two valuers would sit down and compare notes. If they still could not agree, a third independent valuer would make the final call.
The value of the home excluded chattels and contents which would normally be covered by a contents insurance policy.
The council would reimburse people for their legal costs, up to $1500. This is significantly lower than what has been offered in Hawke's Bay, where it was up to $5000.
Timeframes
The expiry dates for all offers would be 31 March, 2025.
The homeowner could choose to pause the process, but if they cancelled it entirely, it would be up to the council to decide to pick it back up later if the owner changed their mind and wanted to accept a buyout after all.
Whenua Māori could be treated differently. If a homeowner elected to use the Kaupapa Māori pathway, currently being worked on by central government, this policy would not apply. More information on this process is expected in coming months.
