A couple who bought a Government minister's holiday house are furious to discover it is a leaky home - and they say they were never told.
Napier MP Chris Tremain and his family sold their split-level house in the remote eastern seaside settlement of Waipatiki for $355,000.
Brothers Chris and Simon Tremain were the owners and directors of one of Hawke's Bay's biggest real estate firms, Tremain Real Estate, and managing director Simon Tremain conducted the sale himself.
Now, Simon Tremain has been fined $750 and censured by the Real Estate Agents Authority for unsatisfactory conduct over the 2009 sale of the house. This included failing to disclose he was a joint owner and that the downstairs studio was water damaged.
Both he and the angry new owners, Gavin and Jenny Burgess, are appealing the ruling. Simon Tremain thinks it was too severe; they think it wasn't harsh enough.
Chris Tremain has since resigned his directorship on being appointed to Cabinet in April. But he told the Herald on Sunday earlier this year that he still had an interest in the company, thought to be through a shareholding held in trust.