Ed's homeless house

Sir Edmund's long-time Remuera home (centre) is to be removed and given to charity to give his neighbour a bigger garden. Photo / Janna Dixon

Tempers are flaring over new uncertainty about the future of Sir Edmund Hillary's home.

The new owner of the house that Sir Ed built in 1956 and lived in until his death last year, multimillionaire neighbour Terry Jarvis, has offered to give the house to a worthy cause, moving it from its harbour-view Remuera property to a new location.

But delays to the relocation plans - which would involve chopping the house into pieces to move it out of the narrow driveway - have left one of the possible beneficiaries uncertain and potentially out-of-pocket.

Real estate agent Graham Wall, who is working with Jarvis on the project, told the Herald on Sunday two weeks ago that the relocation plan was nearing its final stages.

Jarvis has not yet confirmed who will get the house, but the frontrunners are Sir Edmund Hillary College and mountaineer Graeme Dingle.

Dingle wants to preserve the house at the northern end of the Kaipara Harbour, where land is owned by his Project K Foundation for youth development.

Jarvis, a former New Zealand cricketer and Sky Television co-founder, bought the house for $1.9 million in March so he could extend his garden area. After facing a public outcry about the house's fate, he offered to gift the house to benefit the community - as long as it was removed from the Remuera site.

Jarvis had initially offered the house back to the Hillary family. They declined.

A source said Dingle had signed construction and removal contracts and taken out an insurance policy in the belief his proposal was getting the green light - but four months on had been left feeling "frustrated" because Wall and Jarvis weren't giving any clear answers.

Dingle is believed to be angry but he declined to comment, saying it would be "counter-productive".

Wall confirmed the house - built by Sir Ed three years after he conquered Everest - would go to one location.

Relocating the home is expected to cost around $80,000.

The relocation plan had been due to be signed, sealed and delivered a fortnight ago, Wall added, but on Thursday this week he said the plans had stalled.

"We've progressed not at all," he said. "Some things have happened but nothing of consequence. Nothing newsworthy but [there are] processes we have to go through before we go to the next point."

On Friday, Jarvis said he'd been working on getting council consent to remove the house - "not an easy thing to do".

He was not worried about getting rid of the house quickly.

"We're just going through the process. There's no hurry to move it. There are issues with neighbours and all sorts of things which need to be taken care of."

The noise of the removal, the narrow driveway and some tricky logistical issues were of concern, he said.

"Ideally, if people were away it would be better. We've still got to resolve the issue of getting it out.

"We need to placate all the neighbours and make sure everything is as non-disruptive as we can."