Leaky-building victims seek $5m

Residents such Ian Shrimski paid $30,000 to have the balconies demolished at The Terraces. Picture / Dean Purcell

A group of leaky-building victims have lodged a claim in the High Court at Auckland against those involved in erecting and approving their large Newmarket apartment block.

Two years ago, Auckland City deemed 17 of the 43 units at The Terraces on 118 Broadway as dangerous and unfit for their intended purpose, after exterior balconies were declared potentially lethal.

Problems at The Terraces could cost $4.1 million to fix, so residents' initial statement of claim in the court states they are suing for this amount.

But a report due from leaky-building consultants Prendos is expected to show repairs will cost nearer $5 million, so the owners have turned to Tim Rainey, specialist leaky-building lawyer at Grimshaw & Co, who has filed the claim.

"We can't rent the units, nor can we sell them," said owner Ian Shrimski, who bought his Newmarket unit as a city pad, an alternative to his northern rural property at Mangawhai.

But Henry Lim of developer L & Y Holdings said his firm had done nothing wrong in putting up The Terraces.

"We fulfilled all our building requirements," he said, adding that professional consultants and contractors had been engaged to complete the work.

In September 2004, problems emerged with upper, bedroom balconies on 17 of the units overlooking the harbour. The eight-level block was built alongside the railway line and atop a Wilson carparking building.

The council attached danger notices to the 17 units, saying they had "serious structural safety defects", and demanded unstable balconies be fixed immediately.

The residents paid $30,000 to have the balconies demolished and have shut double-glass sliding doors which led from their master bedrooms to the dangerous tiled terraces overlooking the city and harbour to prevent any further misfortunes.

Climbing the stairs from her lounge into the master bedroom, resident Margaret Johnson, who has lived in unit 14 of The Terraces since 1999, explained the high personal toll the problems had taken on her husband Colin Johnson.

She also expressed her concern about young guests gaining access to the bedroom doors, locked and roped together with string.

George Tseung, who has lived at The Terraces since 2001, is annoyed no settlement can be reached with the developers.

Chris Downey, who worked for L & Y Holdings on its resource consent for The Terraces and keeps his unit for when he returns from England, is angry about an issue unfolding daily on the southern side of the block.

He is livid that L & Y have begun work on a neighbouring site behind Broadway to erect another large apartment building, yet no assistance has been forthcoming from the developer to fix their leaking and rotting homes. But Lim of L & Y Holdings said the Terraces/Wilson building was "structurally sound" and there were no issues in attaching the new building.

"There's nothing structural. It's basically a sound building," Lim said.

Bob de Leur, Auckland City's principal building officer, said there were no issues in attaching the new building to The Terraces.

"As far as I am aware, the building itself is not dangerous, but the concerns primarily relate to the cantilevered balconies," he said.

L & Y has also defended its right to build next door to The Terraces.

"It looks modern," said L&Y's general sales and leasing manager, Raymond Ma. "Big cities everywhere have high-rise buildings, but if we stick to low-rise housing and the population increases, then people just move further and further away from the city."

A Weathertight Homes Resolution Service report on problems at The Terraces showed major repairs were needed but the residents have rejected demanding a mediation due to the large number of units in their block, the complex nature of the repairs and their inability to use a lawyer at this forum.

The residents are suing Auckland City Council, Broadway Mall Partnership, Hoadley Budge Architects Interiors and Soon Loo Consultants. Developer L & Y Holdings owned land where the 530-park Wilson building and the 43 residential apartments were built.

In March 1996, Auckland City granted Broadway Mall partnership resource consent for the block and the now-defunct Hartner Construction built it between January 19, 1998 and November 11, 1999.

Council staff carried out inspections of foundations, slab flooring, concrete reinforcing, prelined walls, post-lined walls and interior linings.