'Cavalier' builder fined over five unconsented tiny homes in backyard

A "cavalier" Marlborough man who built five tiny houses and tried to sell some on TradeMe said he didn't think he needed building consent because they were moveable.

Marlborough Building Ltd owner Gary John Shields was fined $8500 for fashioning together five "small dwellings" on a property on Battys Rd, Blenheim and connecting them to a wastewater system.

Shields told a court hearing a council outside Marlborough told him a building consent was "not necessary", as the dwellings were "temporary works".

But the Marlborough District Council argued that Shields' background in the building industry meant he "ought to have known better".

Tiny house built by former ship builder a nautical treat

The home by first time tiny home builders Kathy Nanson and Morgan Constable is as ship-shape as you could want.

The council said Shields was "reckless" to go ahead and build without checking with the local body in charge of building consents. Shields declined to comment when approached this week.

The council said Shields was "clearly aware" the dwellings did not have consent, but had proceeded to build a "significant" number of them, including one which was run as a hair salon and visited by the public.

One building was used by Shields as his home, and the others were sitting at the back of his property, waiting to be sold.

"This was not a simple sleepout or an additional building to a pre-existing consented building. This was rather five buildings constructed without consent," the council said during the August court hearing.

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