June 25, 2018
Iwi warm to Waiotapu rent row end
The Ngāti Tahu Ngāti Whaoa Rūnanga Trust has won a long and costly legal battle over getting a fair rent for a thermal tourist attraction.
Waiotapu Thermal Wonderland 31 km south of Rotorua is run by Te Arawa Group Holdings but the land came back to Ngāti Tahu Ngāti Whaoa under its treaty settlement.
In 2015 the iwi tried to up the rent and Te Arawa Group Holdings objected.
It went to an independent arbitrator, a retired judge, who sent a rent even higher than the Tahu Whaoa had asked for.
After the issue went to the high court Te Arawa Group Holdings was ordered to pay the higher rent as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars of legal, financial and valuation costs.
Tahu Whaoa Trust chair Roger Pikia says such disputes could become more common.
"A number of iwi across the country may have varying experiences with the return of settlement land and then seeing a correction to fair market rental so it may not be unusual to see these types of things playing out through arbitration or if they are able to reach agreement ore unfortunately in our case finding their way into the high court," he says.
The next rent review is in about 18 months, and Tahu Whaoa will look forward to taking over management of Waiotapu Thermal Wonderland when the lease expires in 2033.
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