KEY POINTS:
A farmer who converted pig sheds into four rental flats has been fined $22,500.
Heather Kendrick Graham of Whenuapai appeared in the Auckland District Court yesterday for sentence on three charges brought by Waitakere City Council.
Judge Brian Dwyer dismissed three other charges in his written decision after
hearing the case earlier in the year.
Judge Dwyer said the buildings were unsafe due to fire risk and insanitary due to inadequate drainage.
There was no fire separation where a barn used for storing hay and wool connected with the structure containing the flats and storage units. Without fire prevention systems, he said, "any person in the building will be at threat of injury in those circumstances".
The sewerage system used in the former farrowing sheds was "not adequate for buildings which are used for or intended for human occupation".
It subjected people to the risk of wastewater entering the building if there was a system blockage.
The judge said Ms Graham denied knowing that the building was neither safe nor sanitary, saying she had consulted registered tradesmen.
In February 2004, council inspectors discovered partially completed flats on the 4ha property and told her the work needed a building consent.
She told them she had poured new concrete floors in the old farrowing house and changed the wiring, plumbing and drainage to provide four flats.
"All the fittings are of good standard, each flat has separate facilities such as bathroom, kitchen, hot water," she said.
The judge said Ms Graham chose to complete the work without getting a consent and without advising the council.
Two years later, when inspectors visited under a search warrant, they found several building deficiencies as well as an unauthorised shade house built over an equestrian ring.
An abatement notice was served requiring Ms Graham to stop residential use of the units.
Ms Graham must pay the fines to the council and also pay court costs of $130 and solicitor's fees of $226.
The council's lawyer, Brigid McDonald, had suggested a total fine of $40,000 was appropriate because of the potential for harm.
Cases of using and renting out unsafe and insanitary buildings were common in Waitakere City, she said. The court's treatment of such offending should act as a deterrent to flouting building code requirements for public protection.
The Building Act provided for a maximum fine of $100,000 for each such breach.
Judge Dwyer said the fine he imposed took into account the defendant's ability to pay.
Ms Graham's lawyer, Ben Molloy, said she had supported herself from intense physical labour on the property for 36 years, these days training horses and producing flax for export.
Ms Graham accepted that she must be held accountable for her offending in relation to unauthorised building work on the property.
However, she said no direct harm resulted from the offending and though the buildings did not comply with the building code, they were built to a good standard.