Maketū couple 'staying put' and fighting eviction notice

A young Maketū couple ordered to leave their ''cherished'' home of 40 years are vowing to fight the eviction and stay put.

Aaron Pascoe, 37, his heavily pregnant wife and 2-year-old daughter said they had been given until noon yesterday to leave their coastal home in idyllic Little Waihi after land owner Te Arawa Lakes Trust issued them with a trespass notice this week.

Pascoe's grandparents Kenneth and Hunakiwhangara Broughton bought the home in 1979 while also 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 after her husband earlier died in 2009.

The family are now fighting to stay, claiming the lease does not expire until 2023. They 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 Bay of Plenty Times yesterday, in his opinion, ''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 communication with us over this whole stressful situation has been very bad, " he said.

Pascoe said he and his family would not be forced out of the only home he had known for 37 years and 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 communication from the trust, Pascoe said.

Pascoe said the family were "staying put" and would fight the eviction notice.

He received an email from the Tenancy Service office in Rotorua late on Thursday which mentioned the possibility of mediation, he said.

Pascoe said it was unclear what sparked this communication but he was convinced the 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 Service's 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 at her son's plight.

"I'm very worried my son and his children will be put out on the street," she said.

"We wanted to keep the place as a family home. It's an older home but to us, it's our home."

Speaking from Australia yesterday, Mrs Pascoe said since her parents' deaths, Te Arawa's communication about what was to happen with the land had been in her opinion "appalling".

Even tenants in rental homes were given 90 days' warning, while her family had been on the property for 40 years was ordered out at short notice, she said.

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

"We are making a stand for what is right and fair."

A Te Arawa spokesperson earlier said they could not comment out of respect for the "privacy of the whānau involved".

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