State of leaky home sparks petition

This Mount Maunganui townhouse is the subject of neighbourhood complaints. Photo / George Novak

The victims of a leaky home have found themselves on the receiving end of a neighbourhood petition after years fighting legal battles and bureaucracy to fix their Mount Maunganui townhouse.

Ray and Bev Nehring of Papatoetoe bought the townhouse in Rita St for $430,000 in 2002 - only to discover a couple of years later that it leaked.

They were disappointed that many nearby residents had signed a petition criticising the appearance of the house.

The petition said the building was a risk to health and safety and an eyesore that affected the values of surrounding properties.

"It is beyond belief that an illegal structure had been allowed to remain for such a long period of time. The council should have dealt with this matter years ago and now needs to do its job," it said.

Yesterday's council meeting was urged to take immediate action to rectify the situation by demolishing or completing the building.

However, Mr Nehring, 68, said he was the victim of a debacle that had swallowed more than $650,000.

He said the recovery of some of the money through the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service had been "a joke to say the least", and they were now in another round of "bureaucratic maneuvering" with the council.

"We are not responsible for the circumstances we find ourselves in or the time it has taken to progress the weathertightness rebuild which unfortunately now includes extensive structural repairs to the lower floor," Mr Nehring wrote in a letter which he released to the Bay of Plenty Times.

Mr Nehring said he only heard about the meeting to consider the petition on Friday and was unable to attend. He explained that a series of issues had stalled the project since the weathertightness process began in 2009.

Delays included taking a case to the Environment Court when the council issued an abatement notice on a deck extension, after initially issuing a rebuild consent which included a new deck. The abatement notice was lifted four years ago after the court ruling modified the deck.

The owner of a neighbouring house, Hans Van de Kerkhof, told the council that the area was desirable and he had never seen a building sit in a state of disrepair for so long.

He said the council's report to the meeting had answered some of their questions, but they were still worried about how long the building would remain in its present state.

A council engineer's report concluded that the building was not dangerous provided it was not occupied and was adequately fenced.

An application to amend the building consent was due to be completed on May 1.

The council agreed to "take no enforcement action at this time".

A confidential attachment was also discussed in the public-excluded part of the meeting.