Renovated Block NZ house in ruins after failed relocation

NZ Herald

18 Apr, 2018 09:19 PM4 mins to read

The ruins of a house from The Block NZ season one after a failed relocation. Photo/supplied

Photos provided to the Herald show the full extent of damage done to a house from the first season of reality show The Block NZ after a failed relocation.

The house at 80 Anzac Street in Takapuna was renovated during the 2016 series of The Block by New Plymouth's Ginny Death and Rhys Wineera.

It was later purchased by Auckland woman Brenda Perry, who intended to relocate the house to land she owned on Waiheke Island.

During the relocation process, the house was significantly damaged with Perry subsequently winning a High Court legal battle against O'Neills Building Removals.

Perry said while the decision was good news, it was still upsetting to see what had become of the house she planned to call home.

"It's a relief to finally have a judgement from the court but I wish it had never come to this," she said.

"I never ever wanted a legal process, but I couldn't get any answers and I didn't know what was going on so I was left without choice really."

Perry said her only other option was to walk away.

At the time when Perry purchased the property, the house was situated on land owned by Auburn Developments which had plans to build an apartment block on the site.

Auburn needed the land cleared and thus sold two of the four houses to O'Neills, one of which was then on-sold to Perry.

Perry was warned by O'Neills that the house would need to be cleared quickly to allow for Auburn Developments to commence the construction process.

The Block NZ house after renovation and prior to the relocation. Photo / supplied

It was made clear from the outset that the house needed to be cleared to avoid a risk of damage during the construction process.

At first, the O'Neills told Perry that it was urgent for the property to be moved immediately but later said that Auburn was satisfied for the house to remain on the site for a longer period of time.

In late 2016, Perry discovered the property was damaged.

She learned that the bricks on the house had been removed and building work was ongoing around the house.

She had not been informed of this.

Photos from the former Block NZ house after a failed relocation. Photo / supplied

From this point, Perry tried unsuccessfully to have O'Neills take appropriate steps to secure and protect the house from further damage.

They did not do this but told her that developer would do so.

The damage to the property included the removal of the front deck, water damage to the kitchen unit, damage to a vanity unit in the ensuite bathroom, lights were torn out of the ceiling and the brick foundations were exposed.

The court said that despite repeated requests to remove the house, O'Neills failed to do so.

In response, Perry issued legal proceedings on April 21 last year.

Eight days later O'Neills loaded the house onto a trailer and on May 10 O'Neills relocated the house to a storage yard in Ranui. From then, the house suffered further extensive damage in part from it not being watertight.

In June, Perry went to the Ranui site and discovered that the kitchen ceiling had collapsed. This was followed by the collapse of the master bedroom ceiling.

On June 20 last year, Perry cancelled the contract due to the failures, claiming misleading conduct and breaches of obligations.

In her claim, Perry requested a repayment of $89,000 for her deposit as well as $49,850 for fees paid to a draughtsman, an engineer, a planning consultant, Auckland Council, ecologists, an arborist, surveyors, and transport costs between Waiheke Island and Auckland.