Balcony ban for residents

By BRIDGET CARTER


Some residents of a Newmarket apartment block have been banned from using their balconies and may be forced to leave their homes after a balcony at the complex almost collapsed.

The ban imposed by the Auckland City Council affects 17 apartments at The Terraces at 118 Broadway and has been in place since Monday, after a worker on a nearby site spotted an unstable balcony on the seven-storey building.

The council classified 16 other apartment balconies as dangerous - they were timber-cantilevered balconies built in the same way from untreated wood, and showing signs of decay.

Council staff were now advising the owners of the work needed to make the building safe.

The apartment owners have held meetings about the problem and are now preparing to take legal action.

One couple said the problems with the leaky apartments in the complex had gone on for three years.

They had unsuccessfully been trying to sort things out with the Asian developer L & Y Holdings, which the Companies Office says is in liquidation.

The husband and wife in their 60s, who did not want to be named, said they bought their apartment from the plans five years ago, paying between $300,000 and $400,000, for their retirement home.

"It takes 10 years off your life with the worry of it," the wife said.

They became concerned when the balcony would not drain and water began seeping into the timber, which became rotten, and then broke.

The nearby railway caused vibration, and the couple said train drivers had become concerned that a balcony would fall on the tracks.

They said the developer had not acknowledged the problem.

The couple had lodged a leaky building claim with the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service and had two expert opinions but were becoming frustrated with the slow process.

They said the money had to come out of their pocket, but they could not wait any longer for a solution.

There was the possibility that residents might have to shift out of their apartments for some months.

The council said yesterday that when the apartments were built, about 1996, the use of untreated timber complied with the building code.

But two years ago, the Building Industry Authority alerted councils that balconies constructed from untreated timber could be potentially dangerous.

Now only treated timber could be used.

A dangerous building notice required the balconies to be temporarily stabilised, until they had been fully assessed by a registered engineer to determine the extent of any damage.

Work to fix them would need to comply with the building code.

It is understood that Singapore developer Toon Yeo was the director of L & Y Holdings. His business partners Lim Ming Siam and Lim Teck Hoo were both from Brunei.

The company also developed 88 Cook St and were involved in developments between the Newmarket rail tracks and the Broadway shopping strip.