A family who has been renting a site at Foxton Beach Top 10 Holiday Park claims they were “blindsided” when their lease was terminated, leaving them with a cabin and no place to put it, a report said.
In the report, Mark James and his four-member family had been renting a site on the park for their portable cabin since 2019. They were one of more than a dozen families that were asked to leave March.
The report said that the lease would be terminated due to the development of the campground.
James claimed that he felt misled by the fact that he had repeatedly asked the owner of the holiday park about the possibility of development and was told no.
Horowhenua District Council owns the land and leases it to Kroll Developments Limited, which denies the claim.
They fell in love with the “cozy cube” after they saw it. In January 2019, they purchased the cabin for $40,000
James applied for a mortgage and passed a character exam before signing a license to occupy at Kroll Developments. He was looking forward to endless summers at Foxton Beach, according to the report.
Kroll was unable to renew the site lease. He asked Kroll via email about the development. Kroll did not respond to his questions.
The family tried to move their cabin to another vacation park but couldn’t find any.
“It has completely ruined our dream. It has completely ruined our dreams,” said the family in the report.
Tenants were required to move their cabins if the lease was terminated.
In the report, James stated that after many nights of sleepless nights, he was able to sell his cabin to a family who wanted to live in it. They also paid for the relocation. He knew of many families that were not as fortunate and had to spend thousands to move semi-permanent homes.
A spokesperson for Foxton Beach Top 10 Holiday Park stated that the renewal process was set out in lease agreements. Tenants were never misled and all leases were for 12 months.
She stated that there were several campground developments in the pipeline, but she would not reveal what they were because they were still in the planning stages.
James confirmed that 19 families were affected by the termination of leases, although she would not confirm how many. Two of them had been permitted to lease additional sites at the campgrounds.
This isn’t the first time that the campground has asked tenants to leave citing its development plans. In 2016 owners of about 30 permanent fixtures were asked to leave the holiday park. Some of them had been there for as long as 12 years.
Uwe Kroll, the owner of the holiday park, stated that he planned to build 20 self-contained units and a swimming pool. There would also be an area for tourists or short-term campervans.
A spokeswoman for the council stated that a building consent was granted on August 4, to relocate an existing cabin on the campground’s site, but that no other consent applications were received in relation to the campground.