Couple to appeal order to move sleepout built over waste pipe
A couple have moved a sleepout that sat over a sewerage pipe after a court order, but plan to appeal the ruling and the costs.
In 2022, a Nelson City Council environment officer investigated Rex Newey and Irena Senk’s Nelson South property and found their unconsented sleepout had been built over a sewer main, breaching council rules.
The officer told the couple they would have to remove or move the structure, or apply for resource consent.
Newey told the Nelson Mail Senk had bought the property several years ago, before the couple met. She had turned the “derelict” garden into an orchard, and built the sleepout to live in when her daughter had a baby, he said.
Senk had thought the structure was legal, but was unaware of the 150 milimetre pipe beneath that ran from north to south, Newey said.
After the council issued an abatement notice, Newey began the resource consent process.
However, he withdrew his application because he was unwilling to pay the fee without any guarantee of success, he said.
When abatement notices went unheeded, the council followed up with an infringement notice, and applied to the Environment Court for enforcement orders.
In November, Newey moved the sleepout, but left the deck in place.
He moved the deck in March, after Environment Court judge J Hassan ordered the couple to remove the structure and pay $5000 legal costs incurred by the council.
“The respondents have failed to address the compliance concerns for a long period of time despite regular advice and attempts to ensure compliance,” Hassan said.
Newey said he had always planned to comply.
However, the couple had been delayed by injury, finances, and the council’s own abatement process.
“I’m not saying it’s not my fault ... [but] we never refused to move it,” he said.
Now, although the “problem was solved”, Newey planned to appeal the costs and to “strike out” the ruling, he said.