Following a mix-up in the public land lottery, two Whitehorse residents are selling an undeveloped lot in Copper Ridge for $36,000 more than they paid for it, six months after they bought it.

According to the certificate of title available at the Yukon's Land Titles Office, Whitehorse residents Richard Bateson and Tammie Nickel received title to Lot 809 Copper Ridge, 25 Winze Place, on Dec. 19, 2005 for $48,819.68.

The pair recently listed the property in a local newspaper for $84,900.

The practice of selling your lot before a house has been built on it, according to Marc Perreault of the Yukon Housing Corp., is unusual.

Yukon Housing is the government body that normally issues sales agreements for government lots sold in the Yukon.

'Typically, once the client has gone to the lands branch and selected a lot, they give a deposit,' Perreault said.

'Then the application and the deposit are forwarded to Yukon Housing and the client signs an agreement for sale which includes terms and conditions.'

Perreault said the two main terms and conditions are to pay the balance owing on the lot and to build a house within the specified amount of time; two years in the case of an individual lot purchaser.

'When the building commitment has been met, that's when the government raises title (for the owner),' he said.

Perrault said the case of 809 Copper Ridge was an exception to normal lot disposition procedures that was decided upon during legal settlement proceedings between Bateson and Nickel and the Yukon government.

Responding to questions from the Star this week, Bryony McIntyre, of the territorial lands branch, said the circumstances around Lot 809 Copper Ridge were 'unusual' and result from a mix-up.

'Basically, the purchaser had brought a lot from the Yukon government. It was one of the Copper Ridge lots and it was purchased on the basis of running a business.'

She said the zoning on record for the property at the time of sale, October 2004, was incorrect and the lot that Bateson and Nickel purchased would in fact not allow a business to be built.

'They could not perform that function on that lot.'

She said when it was discovered by the owners that the lot wasn't what they had thought, the government and Bateson sat down to come to a resolution on the issue.

'Lands, on behalf of the government, took the lead on the issue.

'We gave them an opportunity to select another lot which met their needs ... (and) title was raised on their behalf.

'The government raised title so they could get their financing,' she said.

'We negotiated a deal with them to deal with the interest at the time. This is not normal with a Copper Ridge lot,' McIntyre explained.

She said there is still a requirement tied to the land that a building must be constructed 'no later than' December 1, 2007.'

The building requirement, McIntyre explained, will stay with the land, meaning any new purchaser had until December 2007 to finish building on the property.

McIntyre said she wasn't sure why Bateson and Nickel were now selling their lot at 809 Copper Ridge but that the Yukon Lands Act permitted them to do so.

Bateson said in an interview this morning he and his partner were selling their Copper Ridge property because of the hardship they have suffered in trying to acquire land from the lands branch through their lottery system.

Bateson said 809 Copper Ridge is in fact the third lot he and his partner have been in possession of in trying to buy a property to build a day care facility.

'The zoning issue happened twice,' Bateson said.

He has incurred expensive legal fees and lost his contractor over the mishap, which has been going on for nearly two years, he said.

Bateson said after being told his first property, on North Star Drive, had the correct zoning, he found out that it didn't the day his contractor was about to break ground.

He said the first lot was then returned to the government and another was obtained. The problems with the second lot were nearly identical, he said.

The partners then obtained a third lot with the correct zoning after negotiating with the government, he said.

Bateson said after the hardships suffered in trying to obtain property, he and his partner are no longer going into business together.

'It's been a long, long fight. Much longer than just a few months,' he said.

'They didn't make it easy. We had to hire a lawyer, and we eventually settled.'

Bateson said they were selling the lot for more than $80,000 because that is the fair market value for the land.