Couple battle Auckland Council over storm-damaged home for compensation. Video / Dean Purcell
Kim and Melissa Spark have been unable to access their flood-damaged home for two years.
Their home’s damage classification was downgraded to Y2, preventing them from moving back or accessing recovery funds.
The couple disputes Auckland Council’s Category 1 assessment, seeking reclassification so they can access funding for land stabilisation.
A Glenfield couple say they feel helpless, shut out of their flood-damaged home for two years and denied access to storm recovery funds.
Kim and Melissa Spark claim they have been financially, physically, and morally broken by banks, engineers, and, most of all, Auckland Council, over the futureof their home.
“It has been very stressful. I have lost over 10kg in the past year and what makes it more stressful is the lack of communication from the council,” Kim Spark said.
Kim and Melissa Spark surveying the slip in their backyard. Photo / Dean Purcell
The couple said their life went from bad to worse when a council officer turned up after the 2023 Auckland Anniversary floods and placed a red sticker on their house.
Now the 1980s, three-bedroom weatherboard home lies derelict, the garden a mass of overgrown weeds, and the backyard sliding away from a concrete pad into a reserve and stream.
The council has since changed the home’s classification from a red sticker to Y2, which limits access to the property and still prohibits the Sparks from moving back.
Melissa Spark said the classification only changed to allow Watercare short-term access to the house, which also allowed the Sparks to go in briefly and recover their belongings. Yet the council wrongly insisted the Y2 classification meant they could live there.
The council has also assessed their home as Category 1, which means it doesn’t qualify for funds from the joint council-Government $2 billion storm recovery fund.
The Sparks want their property changed to Category 2, where funding is available for land stabilisation.
A council recovery office spokeswoman said the home was assessed as Category 1 because it didn’t meet the threshold for funds.
The Y2 notice on the home of Kim and Melissa Spark prevents them from moving back. Photo / Dean Purcell
“The scheme is identifying where there is a serious risk to life — not simply risk to property,” she said.
The Sparks and the council are entering a dispute resolution process over the Category 1 assessment, and the council’s placarding team is waiting for more information on a proposed retaining wall to get the Y2 sticker removed.
The council initially told the Herald, like the Sparks, that the house had a yellow sticker, which didn’t prevent the Sparks from living in the house.
After the Herald saw the Y2 sticker and provided a council email stating only short-term entry was allowed, the recovery office spokeswoman back-tracked.
“After some more details checks, I was incorrect in saying the placard was one that allowed the family to move back in,” she said.
Kim Spark said he was not surprised at the council flip-flop. He believed council officers were doing everything they could to reduce the growing cost of the buyout plan.
The slip has moved away from a concrete pad at the property. Photo / Dean Purcell
The $2b storm recovery fund is under pressure as the number of Category 3 houses qualifying for a buyout has blown out from early estimates of 700 to more than 1200, leaving less money for long-term projects to reduce the impact of future storms.
Last December, Mayor Wayne Brown grilled officers about the growing number of buyouts and said the recovery work posed a big financial risk for ratepayers.
Kim Spark accused the council of relying on his draft geotech report from Moss Engineering to assess his property as Category 1 when the final report found the damage was worse.
He described the council’s assessment as “lazy, sloppy, and negligent”.
The Herald asked the council if it was correct the Category 1 assessment was based on the Sparks' draft geotech report from Moss Engineering.
The council said the categorisation of all homes was based on information provided by the homeowner, the council’s engineering assessments, including site visits; and any information on file and by third parties.
After lying empty for two years, the garden has been replaced with long weeds. Photo / Dean Purcell
The council’s engineering assessment by geotech firm Engeo said it “did not include an intrusive investigation” to asses land stability but was based on a review of the NZ Geotechnical database and the “recent investigations conducted by Moss Engineering”.
Kim Spark also disputed a claim by the council that it was waiting for more information on a proposed retaining wall to address the backyard sliding away, saying the Moss Engineering report had a full set of specifications, which was attached to the Engeo report.
“They have never asked us for more information about what is required,” he said.
He said the cost to build the retaining wall was quoted at about $300,000 at the end of 2023, but since then the slip had got worse and rising building costs and inflation mean it would cost a lot more.
He qualified for about $75,000 from the former Earthquake Commission (now the Natural Hazards Commission – Toka Tū Ake) and $20,000 from his insurance company, which had already been eaten up in rent and the cost of a geotech report. He wants compensation for the remaining cost.
Melissa and Kim Spark feel helpless after battling Auckland Council. Photo / Dean Purcell
“We just get people trying to pick us off,” Melissa Spark said.
“The banks won’t help, they just offer us more overdraft. The engineers are making money because every time you want a new report it costs $20,000 to $30,000. The council doesn’t want to help, they just want to say no and wash their hands of you, because they have run out of money — but will take the rates, thank you very much.”
The latest thing, said Kim Spark, was the council bringing a lawyer to the dispute process.
“They just want to intimidate us so we will give up and go away,” he said.
Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
