A house that was nearly sold by Housing New Zealand to a private buyer, despite being contaminated by methamphetamine, is being repaired and may return to the market.
A Ruapehu man was close to buying the property in Ohakune from Housing NZ late last year, but he became suspicious and media reports he had read prompted him to get the house tested for meth contamination before signing on the dotted line.
"I just had a gut feeling," the man said.
The test returned positive and he said he was lucky to escape a costly repair bill. He wanted people to be aware of the issue and believed HNZ should be testing its houses before putting them on the market.
HNZ general manager governance Greg Groufsky said methamphetamine testing on its houses was not a matter of course but did happen if there was reasonable evidence to suggest contamination.