Stolen cabin found on rural property, after thieves made off with it by crane

An eagled-eyed stranger has reunited a Hamilton woman with her stolen cabin, after spotting it on a rural Waikato property.

Natasha Middleton drove to Taupiri after receiving a Facebook message from someone who’d seen the purpose-build cabin, which was stolen from her Hamilton rental property more than a week ago by thieves with a crane.

She couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw it sitting on the grass in plain sight.

“I am very relieved. I can’t really believe our luck that we managed to track it down.”

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“I didn’t really think there was a show in heck of getting it back.”

She’d already followed up on a tip saying it was in Ōhaupō, to no avail, so didn’t expect to find it.

But, she could at least rule it out, she’d thought.

”I couldn’t believe it. It wasn’t hiding, it was in plain sight.”

With fears it would be moved again, police came to secure the cabin. They called her on Wednesday night to say she could come and pick it up.

By Thursday afternoon, it was back where it belonged on Shakespeare Rd in Hamilton’s Enderley.

“Unbelievable,” she said, with a relieved laugh.

Next, she would have to work out how to stop this happening again. Asked how she would do that, she said she had no idea – and didn’t think it could have been stolen in the first place.

She said this could be a warning to other cabin owners, who might now need to think about how to secure their own.

The cabin was a “little bit battered and bruised” following its retrieval, with spouting and bits of cladding damaged.

The poles that attached the deck to the veranda were also gone.

But it was fairly minor, she said. “We are very lucky.”

Middleton had the cabin purpose built to give their future renters more options – making it more affordable and helping to cover increasing landlord costs.

Lots of people were building new homes, but there were limited, decently sized existing family homes in the area, she said.

They thought the cabin was a good way to add value – and could be used for a boarder, family member or even an exchange student.

Tradies had been coming and going from the vacant house, working on extensive renovations, and Middleton had popped over to see the progress on Sunday.

That’s when she’d noticed the red cabin – worth $20,000 – with black aluminium joinery, double-glazed windows and a little deck was gone.

She said police were working on a few leads, and it appeared the people involved in moving the cabin didn’t know it was stolen.

Middleton wondered if it’d been sold to someone, who had organised for it to be picked up.

She said she didn’t see anyone at the rural property where the cabin was found.