Lake Tekapo residents say their village is being overwhelmed by short term visitor accommodation and have accused the Mackenzie District Council of failing to enforce its own district plan.

The council has yet to respond to Chris Lynch Media’s request for comment, 12 days after it was first approached.

A resident, who spoke to Chris Lynch Media on the condition of anonymity, said there were about 1100 registered short term visitor accommodation properties across the Mackenzie District, with around 900 of them between Tekapo and Twizel, two villages with a combined population of roughly 2390 people.

“Our village is being systematically destroyed by corporate greed. Over 50 percent of our housing stock is now in short term visitor accommodation, the highest per capita in New Zealand. Local people are being squeezed out of the market,” the resident said.

Residents believe Tekapo now has twice as many short term visitor properties per head of population as Queenstown and Wanaka.

Concerns centre on a pattern residents say they have observed in the village, where houses are consented as large holiday homes before being operated as high occupancy visitor accommodation in breach of the district plan.

The resident said developers were “in essence, lying to our council” by stating there would be a maximum of six guests, gaining consent, then changing the use of rooms labelled as games rooms, media rooms and store rooms to bedrooms.

In one current case, a developer has been granted consent for a house in the Mistake Drive area to accommodate up to six guests per night, the maximum permitted under the plan without a resource consent.

The initial plans showed eight bedrooms, three kitchens and ten bathrooms. After the council advised a resource consent would be required, which would have involved seeking approval from neighbours, the plans were amended to remove two kitchens and relabel spaces as storage rooms, a media room and a laundry, all with ensuites.

“There are ten bathrooms on a house that has applied for consent to have six guests per night staying. And the council have granted the consent,” the resident said.

Residents allege the same developer and associated companies have previously converted spaces described as games rooms into bedrooms after consent was granted, allowing 12 to 14 guests to stay per night in breach of the district plan, and they expect two further consent applications in the Rankin Rise area to follow the same pattern.

That developer did not respond to questions by Chris Lynch Media.

One couple had been lodging complaints about breaches at another Mistake Drive property for more than a year, the resident said, but the council had taken no enforcement action residents were aware of, despite having the power to issue abatement and infringement notices.

“Under the current district plan, if there is a pattern of a developer repeatedly breaking the rules, the council has the tools to stop it happening. The question here is, why haven’t they?”

The resident described a young family who bought a section at Riverside, a low density residential area, and were among the first to build there.

“They are now surrounded by ten bedroom Airbnbs, all against the council’s district plan. They will never have neighbours and are basically living with up to 20 to 24 guests per night.”

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Residents say the district plan permits visitor accommodation in only one residential unit per site, capped at six guests per night, and that operating beyond that limit requires a resource consent obtained before the activity starts.

They have also raised fire safety concerns, saying buildings consented as dwellings are being operated as multi unit guest accommodation without meeting the stricter Building Act requirements for sleeping accommodation, including fire separations, alarms and escape routes.

Daily life in parts of the village now resembled living beside motels rather than in a residential neighbourhood, the resident said, with buses moving through residential streets, constant night time pick ups and drop offs for stargazing tours, and groups of guests calling out to each other early in the morning and late at night.

Locals and other New Zealanders hoping to buy homes in the village were being priced out of the market by investor groups.

Residents presented a united position to the council at a community meeting at the Tekapo Hall on June 29, and a residents’ group is being formed to oppose what members describe as the selling of their village to overseas investors.

“I am speaking up now because I really hate injustice, and what is happening here is unconscionable,” the resident said.