{"id":559714,"date":"2026-08-05T11:48:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T11:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/559714\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T11:48:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T11:48:16","slug":"couple-list-their-multimillion-dollar-dream-home-after-winning-fight-to-lift-hazard-notice-all-things-property-under-oneroof","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/559714\/","title":{"rendered":"Couple list their multimillion-dollar dream home after winning fight to lift hazard notice, All things property, under OneRoof"},"content":{"rendered":"

– Christchurch couple selling their multimillion-dollar home after successfully challenging a council flood-hazard notice.<\/p>\n

– The notice increased insurance costs and hindered sales, despite the rebuilt property meeting consent requirements.<\/p>\n

– Flood protections were deemed adequate, and the four-bedroom riverfront home carries a $2.81m RV.<\/p>\n

A multimillion-dollar Christchurch home is up for sale<\/a> after the owners won a lengthy battle to have a council hazard notice removed from the property\u2019s title.<\/p>\n

Jocelyn and Roger Atkinson told OneRoof that their years-long struggle started in 2011, when the earthquake irreparably damaged their property at 12 Clifford Avenue, in the upmarket suburb of Fendalton. <\/p>\n

They built a new house on the site, following the consent requirements, which included 137 piles and a rib raft engineered foundation, but then Christchurch City Council put a section 73 hazard notice on the title. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe finally got to the end of all that [insurance] nonsense and as a condition of the final building consent, the council said, \u2018we want you to agree to having a section 73 notice put on the title\u2019. We didn\u2019t agree,\u201d Roger told OneRoof. \u201cBut the council slapped the notice on anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The luxury home was designed by Sheppard and Rout Architects and beautifully constructed in 2018 by Honeybone Builders. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The house is close to the river. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

The new home\u2019s design and build followed the building consent exactly, was built 800mm higher than the old floor level, Roger said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the time we said to the council, \u2018What is the hazard you\u2019re talking about?\u2019 Because they assured us that the house was built to all the requirements. They said there was a hazard to the land. But no, they couldn\u2019t tell us what the hazard was.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were using a formula which said that if the water level got above a certain level within a certain distance of the house, then it was automatically a hazard. And that\u2019s pretty crude. Nobody\u2019s ever visited the site. It was all done as a desktop exercise.\u201d<\/p>\n

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– Scots chasing southern dream snap up God Defend New Zealand composer\u2019s villa<\/a><\/p>\n

Roger said they never had a problem with flooding in the 34 years they had lived at the property.<\/p>\n

The hazard notice on the title sent their insurance premiums soaring, and also made the property more difficult to sell. <\/p>\n

But then the couple read that a section 73 hazard notice had been removed from the title of Tauranga property following an intervention by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE). <\/p>\n

The Atkinsons decided to go through the same process, and their own determination<\/a>, released earlier this year, found that while the property was likely to be subject to flooding during a significant weather event, adequate measures had been put in place to protect the land and house from damage. It ruled that the hazard notice should not have been placed on the title.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The kitchen is by Ingrid Geldof Design. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The agent says the property has \u201cwow factor\u201d. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

It was a relief for the Atkinsons, who had future-proofed the home\u2019s design so they could live the rest of their lives there.<\/p>\n

However, their plans changed unexpectedly after they spotted a nearby apartment for sale. \u201cWe\u2019re actually leaving reluctantly,\u201d Roger said. \u201cSuddenly this opportunity came up which we weren\u2019t expecting. An apartment down the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harcourts listing agent Marie Sherry told OneRoof that the Atkinsons\u2019 home at 12 Clifford Avenue was a standout in the market, noting that new homes could no longer be built so close to the river.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look from an aerial shot, there\u2019s no other house that is as close to the river as theirs. When you\u2019re standing in their living room, you look out past the deck, and the water is right there. It literally appears to be underneath the deck even though it\u2019s not. And it has a wide river frontage. The view from inside is absolutely beautiful. It\u2019s stunning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sherry said that the four-bedroom, three-bathroom home was designed by Sheppard & Rout Architects and brought the word \u201cwow\u201d to viewers\u2019 mouths.<\/p>\n

She wrote in her listing on OneRoof: \u201cThe quality of this property is unmistakable. Warm oak floors help showcase the heart of the home; a stunning Ingrid Geldof Design kitchen complete with spacious scullery.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kitchen sits within a generous open-plan living room, which offers plenty of space for family and friends to gather. Glass doors out to the private back courtyard mean you can catch the sun whatever the time of day. <\/p>\n

\u201cAn integrated surround-sound music system, operable both inside and out, makes this home perfect for entertaining, while the list of quality appliances and chattels is extensive.\u201d<\/p>\n

The property has an RV of $2.81 million.<\/p>\n

Christchurch Council head of building consents Steffan Thomas told OneRoof that the council\u2019s decision to place a notice on the title was “consistent with MBIE\u2019s determinations and guidance at that time”. <\/p>\n

“The assessment of whether the hazard would occur on the site is based on the predicted future flood levels and the ground levels provided by the owner\u2019s designer. MBIE has since interpreted where a hazard notice is required differently, and this led to their recent determination decision.”<\/p>\n

– 12 Clifford Avenue, Fendalton, Christchurch, goes to auction on August 19<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"– Christchurch couple selling their multimillion-dollar home after successfully challenging a council flood-hazard notice. – The notice increased…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":559715,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,1258,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-559714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-latest-news","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=559714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/559715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=559714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=559714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=559714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}