Village group push on with formal complaint

Glen Sowry, Metlifecare chief executive. Photo / Hawkes Bay Today

A group of Waitakere Gardens retirement village residents have complained to a state organisation about Metlifecare's handling of repairs to residences at a West Auckland site.

Dennis Brown, representing the owners of 15 units, said he was waiting to hear back from staff at the Commission For Financial Capability on the complaint.

"I have put the residents' formal complaints forward for a disputes panel hearing, which is happening shortly," Brown said.

Glen Sowry, Metlifecare chief executive, said matters were being resolved and a meeting this week was "positive and constructive".

The commission's Troy Churton confirmed the complaint was lodged.

Sowry indicated part of the residents' building was dangerous.

"Some of the affected balconies are not safe to be used and we have been working closely with affected residents to manage health and safety risks," he said.

Not all had gone well to start with, he said, but the situation had been turned around and was now positive.

"The initial proposal to remediate the Rosecourt building balconies was not effectively communicated to residents which caused uncertainty and concern. As soon as this was brought to my attention, we suspended that programme of work in order to engage with affected residents to come up with a less intrusive and more acceptable repair solution," Sowry said.

Changes were planned to 16 Rosecourt Building apartments as part of a $44m, four-village repair programme in the next few years, he said.

"We are remediating the balconies and walkways on 16 apartments. We are going to be doing repairs and design and build deficiencies on balconies, walkways and we will reclad the Rosecourt building. Part of the proposed design solution includes creating conservatories around the existing balconies. To achieve council consent we will be required to upgrade the fire engineering of the building," Sowry said.

"When building work is conducted on the balconies we will be relocating residents from their apartments to other apartments within the Waitakere Gardens village. All costs associated with this activity will be borne by Metlifecare," Sowry said.

The commission oversees the complaints process under the Retirement Villages Act.

Retirement village residents must first complain to a village owner, then if they remain unhappy, an independent dispute panel resolution procedure is established, the commission says.

The Waitakere Gardens residents complained about what they believed was Metlifecare's lack of communication. Residents expressed fears about their living conditions during the remediation process and the possibility of noise and dust.

Brown said that Thursday's meeting with Metlifecare had not resolved issues, the complaint stood and people remained extremely unhappy.