Chch left off taskforce on leaky home problems

A new leaky-home taskforce will have no Christchurch representative despite the city being identified as one of the country's worst problem spots.

The Press yesterday obtained a letter that Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson wrote to the mayors of Auckland and Wellington inviting their representatives to join a group investigating the extent of the leaky homes problem.

Other representatives would include the chairman of the Department of Building and Housing and representatives from the Treasury, Ministry of Economic Development, Department of Internal Affairs, Local Government New Zealand, and Home Owners and Buyers Association of New Zealand (Hobanz).

The Christchurch City Council yesterday said it should have been included.

Almost 150 Christchurch properties are registered with the Government's weathertight claims process.

Williamson said in his letter that Christchurch was along with seven North Island centres "where the majority of weathertightness problems have occurred to date".

He asked the Auckland and Wellington mayors to make contact with Christchurch.

"It's unfortunate the way it has been pitched," Hobanz president John Gray said.

"This is part of the problem.

"We need to get the Christchurch City Council, the Timaru District Council, all the way down [the South Island] taking a damn good look at the building stock in their precinct and actually coming up with some realistic figures."

Gray is today taking a proposed rescue package for those leaky-home owners ineligible for compensation to the minister. The statutory 10-year limit on claims should be replaced by a six-year limit after leaks were discovered, he said.

He questioned the reliability of council data on the issue.

"There is a conflict there, because do the councils really want it known how many houses are at risk and will they make a very thorough effort at actually auditing the building stock?" Gray said.

Councils across the country had been held liable for negligence and had had to pay out on leaky home claims.

Wellington Mayor Kerry Prendergast has estimated councils face a total bill of $660 million to $2.1 billion for leaky homes.

Christchurch builder Ian Mayer, who is rebuilding a leaky home in Redcliffs, said the claims process should be more streamlined.

"Everybody gets a feed along the way," Mayer said.

He knew of a house dispute that had cost $100,000 before a nail had been hammered.

The 10-year limit was "discriminatory" and unfair, Mayer said.

Poor builder training was also contributing to the problem, he said.

Williamson refused to comment to The Press.

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