Now that Pine Street has been cleared of squatters, Paul Paitson is the last man standing on Pine Street.

It will certainly be a lot quieter than usual for the sole homeowner who said no to the Resilient Homes Program buyback offer.

While there is a lot of time ahead before the Pine Street houses are assessed and then relocated, dismantled and recycled or demolished, the term 'compulsory acquisition' will surely enter Paul's head.

"Well, I haven't heard anyone tell me it's compulsory; that they're going to force me out," Paul told the Lismore App earlier this year.

In fact, compulsory acquisition has only been used once by the NSW Reconstruction Authority (NSWRA), and that was when purchasing a parcel of land for the Resilient Lands Program on the North Lismore Plateau for 85 blocks, which is still being negotiated. The NSWRA has the power to use the "Land Acquisition Act".

With more houses being removed each week, vacant blocks are starting to link up. Lismore City Council and the NSWRA must be considering how flood-prone land in North Lismore can be used in the future. Compulsory acquisition must form part of those discussions.

Paul was offered over $500,000 for his Pine Street property through the Resilient Homes Program. He explained why he turned it down.

"The reason I didn't take it is because I've got an acre of land all the way to the end of the street. For 36 years, I've been planting fruit and nut trees, natives and everything. I've got this massive little garden. Every tree you see, I planted, just about. You know, I'm just attached to it."

When you have lived in a flood zone for 36 years, you come up with creative ideas to survive a flood.

"I've got systems like that," Paul said, pointing to a boat-like object.

"That's my floating garage. It's got all my stuff in it, and it just floats around. It's on a big piece of foam tied to a palm tree. I put it back where it belongs when it's done. And I've been through that many floods, it just doesn't bother me.

"I don't want to leave. If I could stay, I'll stay, man. They haven't really talked to me about being forced out."

When you live in a house for 36 years and have experienced many floods, you know its history.

"The house is solid. Not one stick has moved. Look at that. These steel pylons go in concrete two metres deep in the ground, and the house is bolted to I-Beams this big because this was part of that grant where they raised all these houses. It was federal and state and local money that went together to raise 36 houses way back when, I can't remember the year, but it was a long time ago, at least 15 years or something, and they did such a good job. I mean, that is absolutely rock solid. It's not going anywhere. There's no way it's ever going anywhere.

"Even with the cyclone, I wasn't worried, because I strapped the roof down with steel strapping. These old houses, you can't buy these anymore. Every stud in the entire house is a mortise and tenon cut joint at the top and the bottom of every single stud. I can just picture an army of little apprentices chiselling away. That's why it's still here 136 years later. That's how old the house is, as far as my deeds show. It was built in 1889.

"I'm so well prepared. I've got an attic room up in the top, and I've got some of that cold room panel under my bed so that if it ever comes in the house, I'll just throw everything on my bed and lock the door and let it go up and float."

If Paul's pride and joy were to be compulsorily acquired, there would be a high chance that he would relocate it, hopefully to a new block on the North Lismore Plateau.