Campervan loo rules a minefield

Efforts to tighten up rules for campervan toilets have created a legal minefield for councils trying to stamp out illegal freedom camping.

An amendment to the New Zealand standard for self-contained vehicles comes into force on Thursday.

All campervans and motorhomes certified as self-contained from that date must have toilets that can be used inside the vehicle when the bed is made up.

But a legal opinion prepared for the 70,000-member NZ Motor Caravan Association (NZMCA) by law firm Simpson Grierson said councils would face ‘‘serious prac- tical problems’’ enforcing the standard because they lacked the power to enter vehicles to see if they complied.

That’s because a campervan was likely to be legally classed as a ‘‘dwelling’’ and so council enforcement officers would need a search warrant and a police officer present.

The legal advice also said councils would have to amend their existing freedom camping bylaws to include the change to the standard, and if they did not there was ‘‘considerable risk’’ that someone could challenge a fine in court.

NZMCA policy and standards manager James Imlach said there was confusion about this point.

A lot of councils wrongly assumed that if their freedom camping bylaw used the standard’s current definition of ‘‘selfcontained,’’ the amendment to the standard would automatically apply.

That wasn’t the case, and councils needed to go through a formal bylaw review process and public consultation, he said.

Vehicles certified as selfcontained before February 1 did not need to meet the new standard until their certification – which lasts four years – was due for renewal.

Imlach said the association had conservatively estimated there were at least 500 campervans and motorhomes that did not meet the new rules and could continue operating under the old ones until their certification ran out.

According to the legal opinion, councils reviewing their bylaws could insist all vehicles immediately meet minimum toilet requirements, but they would have to prove it was necessary to protect public health and safety.

Queenstown Lakes District Mayor Jim Boult said his council would have no trouble showing the health risk of human faeces being deposited in public places by freedom campers.

‘‘I think I have 50 photos in my inbox that would prove that.’’

He said work on a bylaw review starts this week and he hoped to have it completed in three months.

Boult personally favours outlawing portable toilets in campervans, so that only vehicles with properly plumbed toilets would qualify as self-contained, and he will push to have that definition in the bylaw.

He said forged ‘‘self-contained’’ stickers continued to be a problem, and although some were obvious, others were harder to pick up.

Imlach agreed that illicit stickers were one of the issues that triggered a review of the selfcontained standard, and it was important enforcement staff checked the warrant card on the windscreen and other certification documents.

He said the NZMCA was keen to see a government department administer the certification process and ‘‘check the checkers’’ to ensure a consistent interpretation of the standard.

‘‘[At present] we can’t guarantee that there are not cowboys out there trying to find a way around it.’’

If enforcement staff could be confident vehicles with selfcontained stickers really did have the proper facilities, there would be no need to look inside.