Lake Pukaki

PHOTO: MALCOLM FOSTER/AP Lake Pukaki near Twizel is an area of outstanding natural beauty.

Overseas investors who bought three large chunks of land in Twizel have been ordered to sell because they didn’t get permission from the Overseas Investment Office to buy it.

The group of investors’ failure to seek permission was due to them having been given inaccurate legal advice, the Overseas Investment Office (OIO) said.

Vanessa Horne, group manager for the OIO, said the group of overseas investors bought the three properties, which totalled 327 hectares, between 2014 and 2017.

“The buyers should have sought consent from the OIO as the land is considered sensitive under the Overseas Investment Act,” she said.

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