Maketu¯ family vow to stay

‘Bullying’ trust seeks to evict family from land grandparents leased 40 years ago

Ayoung Maketu¯ couple ordered to leave their “cherished” home of 40 years are vowing to fight the eviction and stay put. Aaron Pascoe, 37, said he, his heavily pregnant wife and 2-year-old daughter had been given until noon yesterday to leave their coastal home in idyllic Little Waihi after landowner Te Arawa Lakes Trust issued them with a trespass notice this week.

Pascoe’s grandparents, Kenneth and Hunakiwhangara Broughton, bought the home in 1979, agreeing to lease the land the house sits on from Te Arawa.

They said the family kept up to date with their leasehold payments until last year when Hunakiwhangara passed away in March. Her husband died in 2009.

The family are now fighting to stay, claiming the lease does not expire until 2023, and have offered to continue making payments but the trust refused and instead served them with the trespass notice this week.

A stressed and upset Aaron Pascoe told the yesterday that “the trust is trying to bully us to leave, which is so unfair”.

“How this has all happened is quite unfortunate and the trust’s communications with us over this whole stressful situation has been very bad.”

Pascoe said he and his family would not be forced out of the only home he had known for 37 years. His wife was due to have their second child in about six weeks.

“I’m so stressed about what’s going on. My mother is coming from Australia to help me with any mediation process,” he said.

The eviction deadline passed yesterday with no communications from the trust, Pascoe said.

He said the family were “staying put” and would fight the eviction.

He said he had received an email from the Tenancy Services office in Rotorua which mentioned the possibility of mediation.

It was unclear what had sparked this communication but he believed media publicity about his family’s plight was behind it.

“I am hoping this a positive sign there is a chance of going into mediation with the trust and with the Tenancy Services’ help we can sort this out,” he said.

Bernadette Pascoe, the daughter of the Broughtons and mother of Aaron Pascoe, said Te Arawa’s actions had left her distraught. “It’s our home.”

From Australia yesterday, Pascoe said since her parents’ deaths, Te Arawa’s communication about what was to happen with the land had been “appalling”.

Tenants in rental homes were required to be given 90 days’ notice to vacate, while her family had been on the property for 40 years and were ordered out at short notice, she said.

Pascoe said she was hunting for a lawyer to help them fight the eviction notice.

A Te Arawa spokesperson earlier said they could not comment out of respect for the “privacy of the wha¯nau involved”.

The Bay of Plenty Times unsuccessfully sought further comment from the trust yesterday.

I’m so stressed about what’s going on. Aaron Pascoe, tenant