The Canterbury Earthquake Recovery minister has agreed to extend the deadline to leave for some Christchurch property owners still trying to negotiate insurance payouts.
The extension covers owners who succeeded in overturning their designation from green to red, enabling them to sell their property to the Crown.
These property owners would have had to vacate their properties by April 30 along with those earlier zoned red, but now have until July 31.
Gerry Brownlee says the three month extension to the final settlement date will ease a number of pressures they are facing.
But he says the extension is to vacate the property, not to settle with the Crown.
Mr Brownlee had earlier told Radio New Zealand that he would only consider such an extension on a case-by-case basis.
So far 6391 red zoned property owners have signed sale and purchase agreements, and of those 5212 have already settled with the Crown.
