Council moves to minimise leaky building risk

LEAKY home syndrome may be a major problem in a city the size of Auckland, but it doesn't appear to be that way in Wanganui.
However, while the Wanganui District Council has records of only a handful of affected properties, it wants to make sure it's on rock solid foundations if things turn sour.
At its full meeting yesterday, the council received a report from its chief financial officer, Julian Harkness, which outlined the numbers of claims it had handled and the potential risk council could face in future.
Mr Harkness said council had a duty to exercise reasonable care when issuing building consents and Code of Compliance certificates.
The "exposure" for council starts at the time a consent is issued and that remains until 10 years after the Code of Compliance certificate is issued. That certificate indicates council is satisfied the building work complied with the code.
Mr Harkness said while claims were generally made against the builder, developer, architect or other similar parties, if those people are no longer in business "council can end up facing the whole claim".
Mayor Michael Laws said while there was an estimated 40,000 cases of leaky home syndrome nation-wide, only 3000 have been notified to the government-established Weathertight Home Resolution Service.
The council has settled three leaky building claims at mediation. Those initial claims totalled $880,000. The final settlement cost council $30,000 and the council's insurers a further $84,500.
Mr Laws said he spoke with the Minister of Housing Issues, Clayton Cosgrove, last week and the Minister was emphatic that central government would not be funding councils for any claims.
"There are potentially many more leaky homes in Wanganui that we don't know about but it would be fair to say we have had a bare minimum of them to deal with," he said.
Late last year the High Court awarded a Hobsonville home owner $250,000 for her leaky home claim against the Waitakere City Council. The council had been third defendant but because the developer was in liquidation and the builder was destitute, the council had to pay the whole claim.
Mr Harkness said the Waitakere council was held liable because it issued the Code of Compliance certificate when the home did not comply with the building code. A further report will be presented to the district council next month.
Meanwhile, officers have begun work on preparing the council's approved building accreditation process due to be in place by November 30 this year. It involves 19 regulations with the most important of these outlining the steps council must follow through the building processes. Without the accreditation signed off, the council would be barred from processing consents.