Agent claims leaky homes issue not known

Wei Hua Yue says agents talked her out of getting a building inspection. Photo / Herald on Sunday

A major real estate firm has defended its actions over the sale of a leaky home by claiming weathertight issues weren't "widely known" in 2006.

Barfoot & Thompson and two of its agents are facing legal action by an Auckland home owner who claims they knowingly sold her a leaky house. In papers filed with the Auckland District Court, Wei Hua Yue also claims one agent advised her not to get a building inspection.

Husband-and-wife agents Jane Wang and Dragon Zhou have denied the claims and plan to defend the case.

Among documents disputing Yue's claim is a letter from the company's lawyer stating: "In early 2006 the extent and signs of weathertightness issues in the local area were not widely known."

Leaky homes lawyer Paul Grimshaw rubbished the claim. "I would suggest in 2006 quite a lot was known." The issue was known when the Herald on Sunday launched in 2004 and a search of New Zealand Herald archives shows stories going back to at least 2002.

>>Leaky buildings worry industry (NZ Herald, March 2002)

The Hunn report into leaky homes was also released in 2002, the same year the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service was set up.

Yue bought the three-level, three-bedroom townhouse in 2006 as an investment.

She didn't know it had already undergone weathertightness tests and some initial repairs. Full repairs, under way now, are estimated to cost more than $130,000.

Yue has claimed Zhou advised her not to get a building inspection, which would have revealed the damage.

Yue said she had been in the country only a few years, spoke poor English and couldn't understand the legal documents.

She had also earlier bought two properties through Zhou and Wang and thought they were trustworthy.

"Now I feel like I was cheated. It's horrible," she said.

The previous owner of the house cannot be found and the builder went into voluntary liquidation soon after completing the development. Yue has refused an offer from Barfoot & Thompson of $30,000 to settle the matter.

Wang said she and her husband Zhou didn't know the house was leaky.

Barfoot & Thompson director Garth Thompson said he was confident that Wang didn't know about the problems.