Angry owners seek court date

Owners of a rotting luxury apartment complex built in 2001 at Gulf Harbour, north of Auckland, are gearing up for a legal battle against a string of defendants they say failed them.

Law firm Cairns Slane is acting for a group of distressed owners of the 41-unit Oyster Cove at upmarket Gulf Harbour on the Whangaparaoa peninsula.

There are plans to lodge a claim in the High Court at Auckland, against six defendants held responsible for designing, developing and certifying the condominium-style housing.

At the centre of proceedings is high-profile property developer Rick Martin and his Cornerstone Group. Mr Martin said in January that he would create a $3.5 billion city at Albany, going unconditional at the end of March on a deal to buy Malaysian-controlled land owner Neil International for $250 million.

Then, Mr Martin said he would begin building 2000 more housing units for about 6000 people and office space for 15,000 workers.

Last month he said the Oyster Cove matter was "a bugger" but that it was not all his responsibility.

Residents in the two blocks at Oyster Cove are angry with the developer, who in 2000 marketed the units to buyers aged over 40 and had them built in 2001.

Lawyer Paul Grimshaw of Cairns Slane said the Oyster Cove owners had not given him permission to discuss the case so he could not reveal the amount to be claimed.

But he said other leaky building litigation had succeeded in holding developers personally liable for their actions.

"We're managing to ping some of the directors personally by using case law," Grimshaw said. "If you can show a developer is personally liable by hands-on involvement with the site - say he's been down there ordering materials or looking around - you can sue them personally."

Oyster Cove residents are planning action against:

* Francis Clarke Architects, claiming it prepared plans "which were inadequate for a building consent because they lacked the details necessary to establish that the building would meet the building code".

* Rodney District Council, for issuing a building consent from the inadequate plans.

* Compass Building Certifiers for "negligently inspecting the building and issuing the code compliance certificate ... certifying that it complied with the building code".

* Plaster Systems, for supplying the cladding which "was inadequate in its specification and technical literature and could not meet the requirements of the building code".

* Akita Construction "for defective workmanship for the sake of completeness."

* Cornerstone Group, on the grounds that "the developers have a non-delegable duty of care in relation to all aspects of the development and therefore their liability follows from the negligence of the other parties".

Paul Francis, formerly of Francis Clarke Architects, said he and George Clarke worked separately and the firm being named ceased to exist. It had worked on Oyster Cove only for a few weeks and Clarke had taken the job with him at the time of separation.

Clarke, now at GMC Architects, said the architectural plans for the units were adequate and that allowed them to get a code compliance certificate.

Mark Fenwick of Rodney District Council said the matter was with insurers RiskPool Local Government Mutual Funds Trustee and he could not comment further.

Maurice Hinton, a director of Compass, said some Oyster Cove residents were taking a claim against his firm to the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service, "so they're trying all bases".

Scot Robertson, manager of Plaster Systems, said he would rather see homeowners go to the service than lodge a High Court claim. Two Oyster Cove homeowners were already taking a claim against his firm and others through the service.

Plaster Systems was the only Oyster Cove party to front up to the pre-mediation session, he said.

He believed the decks, handrails and deck levels were the main faults, rather than the cladding.

"If there's a problem, we'll fix it," he said, although Plaster Systems had only supplied the lightweight solid plaster used on the units' exterior.

Akita Construction's phone is now answered by Nexus Joinery at Glenfield. Akita Construction is partly owned by Akita Group that went into liquidation in June 2003.

Building claims

* Latest leaky building victims at Oyster Cove prepare for their day in court.
* Ponsonby Gardens victims got $700,000 through the Government's mediation service.
* Residents of Greenwich Park near Spaghetti Junction claimed $9 million but settled before litigation.
* Owners of Sacramento at Botany Downs are claiming $19.2 million but have been told to bulldoze many units.