A Richmond resident has been blindsided by a $1400 fee to keep three dogs on his property.
Owen Haring went to register his dogs before the July 31 deadline but was “really shocked” to find out that Tasman District Council requires a resource consent to keep three or more dogs on an urban property.
About five minutes down the road, in Nelson City, owners of three dogs require a permit rather than a resource consent because it falls under a different council’s rules.
Haring has lived on his central Richmond property for seven years and had at least one dog for all that time.
The third dog has only recently arrived at his home, having moved in along with his wife following their marriage, and had previously been registered at a different address.
Since the three dogs have been on the property, Haring received his first noise complaint related to barking, though he said there was “nothing” in it as someone is almost always with the dogs and any periods of absence would be a “couple of hours at most”.
It was when dog control first visited after that complaint that Haring first heard about needing a resource consent, which has a $1400 deposit, to have three dogs on his urban property.
The consent would be on top of the three charges of $90 to register each dog.
“I’ll register all three, but I’m not going to be paying the resource consent just because I don’t think it’s right. How can they justify that?” he asked.
“It’s a significant amount for people to cough up.”
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Haring doesn’t want to be “dishonest” by registering the dogs elsewhere and would welcome an officer to conduct an inspection of their property to ensure it was suitable, “but we’re not going to be paying $1400 for red tape,” he said.
While the $1400 is a deposit, and some of the money could be returned, he said he talked to another resident who went through the process and only received $70 back.
“I’m not someone that jumps up and down about anything, but what do you do? Do you choose who’s going to go out of the three? It can be pretty stressful.”
Tasman District Council’s group manager environmental assurance Kim Drummond said having three or more dogs on smaller urban properties can increase problems.
“This opens up the potential for amenity, odour and noise issues to be more difficult to manage – particularly in the eyes of nearby residents.”
The resource consent process looks at the potential effects of those three issues on neighbours which is determined, in part, by a site visit from a council staff member.
If the effects are low, that is reflected in the time spent processing the consent, Drummond added.
If a consent is granted, it is applied to the property indefinitely but isn’t carried with the owner and dogs if they move to another location.
Council has granted six of the consents over the last four years.
Five of the six cost between $1200-$1700 and had approval from affected parties, while the sixth cost $3600 and didn’t have approval from all affected parties.
Drummond said the council hasn’t had to pursue enforcement against a resident who hasn’t acquired the consent, but a breach would attract a $300 fine and a requirement to obtain the resource consent.
Rural properties can gain a kennel licence which “seems to be more attractive”.
Drummond added the issue has not surfaced during recent reviews of the dog control bylaw or its fees and charges, nor were there requests to change the rule, which was in the Tasman Resource Management Plan.
Nelson residents don’t need a resource consent to keep more than two dogs on an urban property and instead just need permission from the council.
Mandy Bishop, Nelson council’s group manager environmental management, said that after a resident completes an application form, the council checks for past complaints and inspects the property to determine if a third or subsequent dog may cause a nuisance.
“If we grant a permit, it will include the names of the specific dogs approved. If the dogs on the property change, the resident must renew the permit.”
The permit applies to the dogs specified rather than the property with the permit needing to be renewed if the dogs on the property change, and can be cancelled by the council at any time.
If more than two dogs are kept without permission, the council can issue an infringement notice. After three notices, a resident can be barred from owning any dogs for up to five years.
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