KEY POINTS:
A law change overhauling the Government's response to the leaky homes crisis retains a 10-year limit which victims asked Parliament to abolish.
They wanted homes up to 15 years old to be covered.
The problem is expected to cost $5 billion to $10 billion to fix.
Parliament's social
services select committee, headed by Georgina Beyer, has reported back on the Weathertight Homes Resolution Services Amendment Bill, which aims to speed up handling of claims.
The rejection disappointed John Gray, of the Leaky Homes Action Group, which represents many of the victims.
"We're upset because they have denied our call for an increase time limit to 15 years," he said.
The Government had a "moral obligation" to save affected owners from financial ruin, he said. He had urged it to extend the claims period to bring New Zealand into line with other Commonwealth countries
But he endorsed many of the other changes proposed, saying they would help victims in their attempts to get compensation to fix their homes.
The law change will create a new Weathertight Homes Tribunal which is intended to speed the dispute resolution process.
Councils will also be required to include any weathertightness issues on houses' Lim reports.
"Including notices on Lim reports should help redress the current imbalance of information on property weathertightness between buyers and sellers of houses," the committee said.
The committee recommended the bill be amended so claimants who had their cases terminated or withdrawn and who then brought another claim for the same house must bring that new claim within one year.
It did not favour removing the 10-year limit because the average age of a house under the current claims was 5.9 years, and the 10-year limit motivated people to lodge their claims quickly.
But Mr Gray said the 5.9-year average was because houses more than 10 years old were not covered by the current process.
If they were allowed, the much larger scope of the crisis would become clear, he said.
In May, the Government introduced a bill to improve the Weathertight Homes ResolutionService.
The select committee said the changes in the amendment bill were so substantial that it would be better to enact a new law.
The committee approved extending the law to make it easier for owners of multi-unit apartment complexes to bring claims, saying about 70 per cent of claims registered were from unit owners.
"The bill allows a class action to be taken for multi-unit buildings and makes the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service more accessible to this type of claim," it said.
The new law is due to take effect on May 1.
TIMELINE
* 2002: First leaky home law passed.
* 2006: Amendments proposed to the 2002 law.
* May 1, 2007: New law due to come into force, establishing a Weathertight Homes Tribunal.
