Photo: RNZI
Questions have arisen about a housing development in French Polynesia after the court of appeal ruled in a land dispute that none of the claimants owned it.
La Depeche de Tahiti says notaries who had been involved in the transactions have stopped selling properties at the Tahiti site, likening the situation to a judicial earthquake.
The developer, SCI Delano, had acquired the area in Punaauia but the ownership had been challenged for decades by the descendants of Tahiti's Pomare royal family.
One of the descendants, Joinville Pomare, has told a news conference that he would table documents to allow him to take over the land.
He says if successful, it wouldn't be up to him to reimburse the people who have homes on land that they don't own.
Mr Pomare says it would have been up to the notaries to advise buyers that they acquired property in dispute.