Builder on TV presenter's home pleads guilty

Miriama Kamo's house on Waiheke Island. Photo / Supplied

The builder responsible for illegal building work at TV presenter Miriama Kamo's Waiheke property has pleaded guilty to charges.

Kamo - who hosts TVNZ's current affairs show, Sunday - and Michael Peter John Dreaver, 49, last week admitted four charges under the Building Act in relation to the property where they were married earlier this year.

Julian Marcadere Davis appeared in Auckland District Court this morning where he admitted a count of doing restricted construction work without supervision of a licensed builder, as well as two of completing the conversions without consent.

Like Kamo and Dreaver, he could also face a six-figure fine for the indiscretions, which took place in July and September last year, according to court documents.

Despite today's guilty pleas, Kamo was quick to defend Davis last week.

"We don't blame it on the builder. It was our fault, we got it wrong," she said.

They were "naive" when making changes to the property, she said, which they eventually planned to open up to artists and low-income families for retreats.

"It's embarrassing more than anything else and we have to face the music now. We got it wrong," she said.

The charges came about because someone complained to Auckland Council, but Kamo laughed off suggestions of retribution.

"I have no interest in who dobbed us in," she said. "To be honest with you ... I'm kind of glad we've had to go through this. We want our land to be compliant."

Her husband, Dreaver, a consultant and Treaty of Waitangi negotiator, bought the property with Kamo in 2006 for $650,000, a year after they met at a boxing match.

It was revealed in 2013 that Dreaver had earned $1.5 million for his work on 20 treaty settlements in the Auckland and Hauraki regions.

The charges on which the pair will be sentenced relate to building work that happened shortly after purchase of the lifestyle block and other construction that was done last year.

The pair admitted unlawfully installing a pot belly stove as well as a "yurt"-- a circular hut originally used as temporary shelter by nomadic Mongolians.

The most recent building work, in July 2014, which also took place without consent, converted a shed into a "recreation/reading room" and added a veranda.

A shipping container was transformed into a kitchen and a second-storey sleeping area was annexed to the property, also without Auckland Council approval.

The trio will all be sentenced in January.