Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Premium
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

The council thinks a piece of Napier Hill has been abandoned by the property owner, so it wants to sell it off

By Gary Hamilton-Irvine
Multimedia journalist·Hawkes Bay Today·
7 Feb, 2025 05:00 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

SkyCity admits the 'huge toll' the NZICC has taken on them, the hospitals continue to be full or delayed as Trump holds up thousands of global aid projects. Video / NZ Herald

A property covered in scrub and trees on Napier Hill which is years behind on rates and thought to be abandoned could be sold off to recover the debt.

Napier City Council has issued a Public Notice of Apparently Abandoned Land for the property at 112 Shakespeare Rd.

Rates have not been paid for the past three years and the ratepayer (owner) has been uncontactable.

There is no home on the 1277m2 property, which has a CV of $165,000.

The property on Napier Hill. Photo / NCC
The property on Napier Hill. Photo / NCC
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

“Napier City Council intends to exercise its statutory powers ... in respect of the land,” the public notice read, published in Hawke’s Bay Today on Wednesday.

“[And] apply to the District Court one month after the date of this notice for an order declaring the land to be abandoned, and to authorise Napier City Council to sell or lease the land.”

The council confirmed it was an “extremely rare situation”.

A Napier City Council spokeswoman said if an order were made in court declaring it abandoned, the council would not own that property but there would be a “lengthy prescribed process that would ultimately result in the sale of the property”.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

“After taking off outstanding rates and charges, the balance would be held by Public Trust on behalf of the owner(s) or beneficiaries.”

A picture taken up the hill, overlooking the property and neighbouring property. Photo / NZME
A picture taken up the hill, overlooking the property and neighbouring property. Photo / NZME

The council confirmed there were a few possibilities behind not being able to contact the owner or a representative for the owner.

That included the possibility they were deceased and had no personal representative, or they could not be found after due inquiry and had no known NZ agent.

The property is owned by Robert Neil McLachlan, according to property records.

The public notice asked for anyone with “an interest or any information relevant to the proposed application” to email dmc@mw.org.nz.

According to the council’s database, the property was charged $2607.29 in Napier City Council rates during the three years ending June 2024.

Gary Hamilton-Irvine is a Hawke’s Bay-based reporter who covers a range of news topics including business, councils, breaking news and cyclone recovery. He formerly worked at News Corp Australia.

Save
    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

Tale of two Alexanders: Well-known companies in liquidation, owing hundreds of thousands each

Hawkes Bay Today

Hawke's Bay couple marry during halftime at rugby match

Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

Napier night shelter expects to chase new Government homelessness funding


Sponsored

Kiwi campaign keeps on giving

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Premium
Premium
Tale of two Alexanders: Well-known companies in liquidation, owing hundreds of thousands each
Hawkes Bay Today

Tale of two Alexanders: Well-known companies in liquidation, owing hundreds of thousands each

The two companies in liquidation share the name Alexander, but are otherwise unrelated.

07 Sep 06:00 PM
Hawke's Bay couple marry during halftime at rugby match
Hawkes Bay Today

Hawke's Bay couple marry during halftime at rugby match

07 Sep 01:59 AM
Premium
Premium
Napier night shelter expects to chase new Government homelessness funding
Hawkes Bay Today

Napier night shelter expects to chase new Government homelessness funding

06 Sep 06:00 PM


Kiwi campaign keeps on giving
Sponsored

Kiwi campaign keeps on giving

07 Sep 12:00 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP