KEY POINTS:
Owners of a once-leaky home north of Auckland are taking a huge claim against the vendors of the property to the Weathertight Homes Tribunal on Monday.
Hayley and Richard Tabram of 89 Pacific Parade in Army Bay, Whangaparaoa, are claiming $384,134.30 from a number of parties including the former owners of their house, Arran and Michelle Slater, who the Tabrams are claiming were also the developers.
The Tabrams bought the place in 2005 for $755,000 but had to spend thousands fixing it, engaging Jennian Homes in a massive re-build, including re-cladding.
Their case is just one of many where house buyers have found themselves trapped in the leaky-home nightmare and needing thousands of dollars to fix places they bought. The new buyers are often unwittingly stepping into the rotting-house crisis without knowing it.
An estimated 80,000 New Zealand homes leak, costing $500 million to $5 billion to fix.
Unusually, no council is involved in the Army Bay case. The vendor claims the buyers knew full well of problems.
Arran Slater was angry that the case was going before the tribunal because he felt it could have been settled by mediation.
"Whatever way it goes it is expensive and exhausting for both sides," he said, describing a nightmarish last few years of worry and concern, eventually ending in the use of the state service.
He had offered the Tabrams $80,000 in an attempt to settle but this was rejected.
He claimed the Tabrams had bought knowing the big house had major weathertight defects but they decided to go ahead anyway. A pre-purchase building inspection was done on the house, he said, as was a land information memorandum (LIM).
"The report they had on the house was very clear of its condition, so much so that it shocked me," Mr Slater said.
However, he claimed the Tabrams had decided to ignore the findings of the report and go ahead.
"They waived the report and a LIM, even with advice from their lawyer that they did not have to hurry into this. It's not right that people get a report, buy it and then sue you for it. Where do you stand? I'm a roofer, I work with people who say they did everything right and they're getting screwed too," Mr Slater said.
Tim Rainey, a lawyer at leaky building specialists Grimshaw & Co, is representing the Tabrams and disputed Mr Slater's claims.
"They have a good case and are confident that they will be successful once the adjudicator has heard all of the evidence regarding their leaky home," he said.
Now that the house is fixed, the Tabrams are selling the multi-level, six-bedroom place for $799,000.
Liz Parker of Ray White said people were being told of the extensive repairs and she is advertising it as "style, sophistication, space, sun, sea views - yes, this stunner has it all".
WEATHERTIGHT HOMES TRIBUNAL
* Arm of the Ministry of Justice.
* Established April 2, 2007.
* Adjudicators of leaky-home disputes.
* Has offices in Auckland and Wellington.
* Auckland offices in AA Building, CBD.
