Steel gates, warning signs and the start of demolition works outside a mouldy, abandoned home has brought relief to residents of a Wellington street.
Earlier this month RNZ reported a large, mouldy, abandoned 1980s-era home on Kabul St in Khandallah hadbeen decaying for years, bringing a strong smell to the area.
One neighbour Paul Ash said it was attracting crime and had become almost “an industrial-sized puffball of mould spores”.
The owner of the home was contacted by RNZ and acknowledged it had become an eyesore and confirmed demolition would start about September 17.
Nearly two weeks on, the owner seemed to have stuck to his word, with the house having had some windows removed, a wall taken away and large gates in front of it warning it was a construction site.
Decay to demolition: the long-neglected Khandallah property meets its end. Photo / Samuel Rillstone, RNZ
A homeowner on the street, Jenny, said people on the street would be relieved something was going to happen to the building.
“It has been in a very dilapidated state for a very long time and it needs to be pulled down because it seems like the only option.”
Fellow neighbour Pat Glasgow had lived on the street for the past 19 years.
Glasgow said for the past year the smell the house had created was “pretty awful”.
“It must be really damp and wet inside.”
She said the abandoned home had let the street down.
“We’ll be quite happy I think to see it down.”
The owner of the home earlier acknowledged the impact the house had on the street.
Neighbours say the mouldy house emitted a strong, persistent odour. Photo / Samuel Rillstone, RNZ
“The neighbours have been very patient over the years,” he said.
Wellington City Council said because the home was vacant and not an immediate risk to life it could not require the owner to knock it down.
Its senior health advisers had assessed it several times – with the latest being in June – and determined it was not safe to live in.
Police advised the abandoned home’s owner it may pose a structural risk, health and safety risks and it attracted criminal activity and was an opportunity for squatters.
