Leaky home group seeks Government relief

John Gray bought a leaky townhouse in Ponsonby

The leaky homes crisis should be treated like a major civil disaster and its victims given financial relief.

So says the Leaky Homes Action Group, which wants the Government to help the more than 15,000 home-owners suffering financial, physical and emotional stress.

The group wants the Government to particularly help those whose places were inspected by private certifiers and who have no hope of compensation from an industry which no longer exists.

"The Government should come to the aid of claimants directly affected by the liquidation of all of the private certifiers," said a draft discussion document. "We believe it should be treated just like any other civil disaster and there must be some form of financial relief for these claimants."

The action group is also heavily critical of the Government's Weathertight Homes Resolution Service, which it said was destroying the lives of claimants by failing to deliver results and compensation.

"Most commonly it is the mediations that have yielded very poor results, given the aggressive, misleading and calculated attacks being made on claimants by respondent parties."

The group said victims whose houses were older than 10 years should also be able to use the service to make claims and called for the 10-year limit to be removed or extended to 15 years.

A member, John Gray, said the insurance industry, local government and the building industry vehemently opposed this because it would open them to more claims from victims.

The group said widespread reforms to the resolution service in this year's Budget did not go far enough.

Main targets

Lobby group worries concentrate on:

* Victims of the private certification collapse.

* Weathertight Homes Resolution Service failures.

* People whose leaky homes are more than 10 years old.