A private client asked us to investigate the resource consent history of activities on their land, plus provide them with options to consider if they needed to rectify anything that looked problematic. Of particular interest to them was the possibility that a third party had undertaken things on their land when they shouldn't have.
Background
Land use research can take you down endless rabbit holes. This investigation was crucial because the activity history of the land was incredibly complex, and there was a lot of resource consent material to read through. To stay organised and on track, we structured our investigations around some key questions that needed to be answered for the client. We created a timeline of land use activities based on an initial search through titles and council records.
We carried out discussions and interviews with the council and a number of individuals who had been involved with the land to build up a picture of what had been going on there. To make sure the land use history was clear, we mapped as much of the material as we could so there was a good visual record of the investigation.
Once we had that big picture we thoroughly reviewed of all the relevant resource consent documentation, property files and related documents. Those findings were compared to the statutory plans for the region to assess the legal status of the activities. With such thorough research under our belts, we were able to provide a robust report with solid advice about whether the third party activities were legal, and what the client could do to rectify any that weren't.
Research puzzles
We had to be incredibly tenacious to get to the bottom of what had been going on on the land. It was quite exciting to unravel this resource consent mystery and provide clarity for what started out with a very confused picture. We nailed down the facts and could turn confusion into understanding for our client.
