Planning Safe Futures Beyond High-Risk Land

Some lands are simply beyond defending. When the hazard return period, the footprint and the community risk all exceed what remediation can responsibly manage, the conversation becomes one of retreat – managed, fair and strategic.

In the East Coast region around Gisborne we supported the buy-out of approximately 60 properties (residential and productive land) under Category 3 classification. Titles were pre-checked and valuations were assembled by the council, but negotiations were the difficult part: in many cases people were not just leaving a house, they were leaving a business, a lifestyle block and family memories. In some cases different generations of the same family had separate properties affected meaning the social impact on the family unit was profound. On top of homes and livelihoods a few of the unluckiest people lost pets and in sadly a few cases loved ones. Align helped navigate that complexity resolving full-property purchases and also situations where owners kept the land but development rights were removed.

Flexibility in action: Where properties originally classified as Category 2 (for example those needing lifts or remediation) were later found to be uneconomic to protect, they were shifted into the Category 3 buy-out programme and we adapted our land-rights and negotiation approach accordingly.

In the Auckland region the scale is larger – earlier in the year, there were 1,008 confirmed Category 3 homes eligible for buy-out. More recently, a few extra have come online where again repairs are uneconomic and buy-out is the only safeguard to life.

Our work spans full-property acquisition and removal of development rights where farms or lifestyle blocks cannot be defended.

What Align did:

Pre-purchase due-diligence: title checks, valuation reviews and ownership mapping.
Negotiation of full-purchase offers or partial-rights removals, particularly where the land is productive.
Sensitive stakeholder engagement: recognising homes are not just bricks and mortar but anchors for family, business and community – especially where trauma (loss of property, pets, family members) is involved.
Deal closing: facilitating lawyers, councils and landowners through to settlement.

For councils and property teams this means:

A clear, managed liability-reduction pathway rather than ad-hoc retreat.
Partnerships that treat land-owners with respect, informed negotiation and commercial rigour.
Future-focused land-use transition rather than reacting when crisis hits.