Niue's minister of health is holding a series of meetings in Auckland, New Zealand, to get the absentee owners of rundown properties on the island to allow the government demolish them.
Vegetation and vermin have overtaken dozens of houses abandoned when their owners moved to New Zealand.
Joan Viliamu says the first of four meetings in Auckland takes place on Sunday, when families will be shown photographs of their derelict houses.
"(But) we're not going to demand. We're not going to demand families in New Zealand, like, 'Come on, you better sign this form otherwise','' she told Radio New Zealand International.
''We're going to negotiate in a way that most of the families will negotiate with us."
