Council tentatively backs 'no blame' claims proposal

The Government's "no blame" leaky building claims option has been approved in principle by the North Shore City Council, which has 15 per cent of New Zealand's active claims for water-damaged homes.

Mayor Andrew Williams said the offer for the Government and local authorities to each pay 25 per cent of repairs, and give a state-backed loan guarantee to help home-owners with the rest, was a huge leap from the 10 per cent offered early in the year.

He said the offer needed fine-tuning over the next six months, as details had still to be worked out with local government officers to address concerns.

The council's risk services manager, Howard Read, said support for the concept would allow further development including an agreement on a repair standard which would stop money being used for betterment of a home instead of fixing damage caused by leaks.

The Government asked councils to respond to the offer by May 31, with a view to introducing the rescue package early next year.

Mr Read said the council had paid $2.4 million on 427 claims as at April 30.

It had allowed $18.3 million for active claims but the number of new claims prompted by the offer was unknown.

Mr Williams said that if the Government's estimates of 89,000 leaky homes nationally proved correct, this could mean nearly 70,000 of them were in the Auckland region.

The council wanted further work done on the impact of GST paid out in fixing leaky homes and the cost of council consents required for repairs.

He was concerned that safeguards be developed against fraud and price gouging.