$23m allocated from leaky home scheme

File photo / NZ Herald

More than 200 owners of leaky homes have qualified for $23 million in financial assistance in the first two months of the Government's $1 billion leaky homes package.

Under the scheme, launched on July 29, the Government and local councils will pay for up to half the costs of repairing leaky homes, with homeowners themselves funding the other half.

Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson said today that more than 2200 existing claimants had so far expressed interest in the package, with more than 200 eligible owners qualifying.

Claims must be lodged within 10 years of the completion of building work to qualify.

The $23m so far allocated includes $18m from the Government and $5m from local councils.

About 70 per cent of the qualifying claims were from Auckland, with 20 per cent split between Wellington and Tauranga, and the remainder from Hamilton, Christchurch, Whangarei, Hurunui, Taupo, and Kapiti Coast.

Mr Williamson said the response from new and existing claimants had been great.

Thousands of homeowners have inquired about the scheme, with the Government's leaky homes website receiving more than 11,000 hits.

"We're seeing the numbers grow every day and we're hoping to get a lot more so that people can get their leaky homes fixed," he said.