Rot risk warnings ignored for years

By ANDREW LAXON

The Building Industry Authority was warned for four years that New Zealand faced an epidemic of leaking and rotting homes - but took no effective action to solve the problem.

Industry whistle-blower Philip O'Sullivan sent the Government authority a stream of letters and emails telling it that a crisis was developing and unsuccessfully urging rapid action.

Since the North Shore building surveyor gave his first warning in April 1998, nearly 40,000 more homes have been built using leak-prone monolithic cladding and rot-prone untreated timber - the combination he predicted was likely to fail.

The advice to the BIA included:

* A six-page report from Mr O'Sullivan in December 1998, warning that many modern buildings seemed to leak and identifying virtually all the causes reported by an official inquiry last month.

* Graphic pictures in November 1999 of rotting balconies - the kind which brought a national safety warning when the inquiry team saw them more than two years later.

* A September 1999 letter from Dr John Kinnonmonth, chairman of the standards committee which introduced untreated timber three years earlier, urging that the decision be reconsidered because of growing evidence of leaks and rot in new homes.

The new information is expected to increase debate at a legal conference on leaky buildings in Auckland today over possible Government liability for the crisis.

One conference speaker, arbitrator and building law expert Derek Firth, said the warnings - combined with questions over the 1996 move to untreated timber and the building code's lack of instructions on how to stop leaks - suggested a strong case for some Government liability, despite repeated rejections by ministers.

He said the most likely form of lawsuit would be a negligence claim, based on the Government's failure to warn consumers that using untreated timber even slightly incorrectly could destroy the safety and value of their houses.

Consumers Institute chief executive David Russell said his organisation believed the Government carried a share of the blame "and the quicker it faces up to that, the sooner the problem will be resolved".

The Government needed to set up a compensation fund, not just for desperate home owners but to cover the debts of others involved who had "done a runner".

Internal Affairs Minister George Hawkins was unavailable yesterday.

His spokeswoman rejected Mr Firth's argument that the Government could be sued for not warning consumers, saying good builders understood the difference between treated and untreated timber.

She could not say whether the Crown Law Office opinion, which the Government says proves it has no liability, was based on the issues involved or automatic statutory protection against legal action.

The Government has refused to release the report, citing professional legal privilege.

Asked if the Government was still ruling out compensation for victims, she replied: "Yes, at this stage."

Building Industry Authority chief executive Bill Porteous said the authority could not take any action when shown examples of one rotting balcony, because it was the local council's responsibility.

He said the authority issued a public warning in August this year when it received independent confirmation from the inquiry team that a safety issue existed.

The authority had not responded to Dr Kinnonmonth's plea to reconsider the use of untreated timber because the new standards committee did not think it was a problem.

Mr Porteous said it might seem that three years was a long time to come up with general regulations ensuring all monolithic claddings did not leak, but the job was not easy. Manufacturers were still arguing about the details.

He rejected any argument that the authority or the Government could be liable for the problem.

"These buildings decay because of non-compliance with the building code. I'm not sure how liable the Crown can be because of non-compliance with the law."

Carter Holt Harvey Innovision chief executive Scott Fuller, whose company championed the move to untreated timber, said Carter Holt still believed the answer was to stop buildings leaking.

Carter Holt was prepared to move back to treated timber if consumers wanted it, as long as they understood the extra cost and availability problems.

Mr Fuller said untreated timber used to make up 97 per cent of sales for Carter Holt.

But since the leaky building crisis was revealed about 10 per cent was heavily treated H3 timber, previously used on exposed outside areas such as decks.






* If you have information about leaking buildings,
email the Herald or fax (09) 373-6421.

Further reading
Feature: Leaky buildings

Related links