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A fight is looming between mayoral heavyweights and the Government over the leaky homes crisis - now estimated to affect 30,000 homes and 80,000 people.
Auckland Mayor John Banks, Wellington's Kerry Prendergast and others are working on a strategy for the New Year, to demand the Government helps pay the billion-dollar-plus repair bill. But a senior minister says the Government does not accept liability, and there is "a lot of squawking" from Auckland over the issue.
Prendergast met Prime Minister Helen Clark, Deputy Prime Minister Michael Cullen and Building and Construction Minister Shane Jones on Thursday to pave the way for next year's negotiations.
Prendergast said reports were presented outlining the costs involved in leaky homes. She said research showed around 30,000 homes were affected - twice previous Government estimates.
"This issue is too big for us [councils] to solve on our own."
Banks said the Government had to share responsibility for the problem. "It was parliamentary legislation that got us into this trouble in the first place."
Jones said the Government had received the reports and officials would look at them but its position was unchanged. "Liability does not lie in the hands of the Government," he said. "This position is well known to the mayors, it was repeated recently by the Prime Minister."
He said there was "a lot of squawking" coming from Auckland.
Banks denied rumours the councils would take the Government to court. "Taking people to court is always a last resort and the only winners tend to be the lawyers."
John Gray, of the Leaky Homes Action Group, was not surprised by the new estimate of 30,000 homes, saying it could be many more. But he had little sympathy for the mayors. "The councils have been found liable because they have been found negligent. Fundamentally, I see the councils as having to bear a considerable amount of that liability."
Banks said he wanted the cost to be shared three ways - by the Government, local authorities and homeowners.
"We're putting a case for a fair share of the liability... I don't think local government wants to step away from its blame, but the legislators need to share some of the cost."
The chairman of the council's finance committee, Doug Armstrong, resigned from the council's weathertight homes working party earlier this year, partly because of what he called its "soft" attitude towards the Government.
"The Building Industry Association set the big picture regime for permissive building procedures and it didn't measure up," he said. "I believe the Government has a huge liability - at least as big as ours. For the Government to get off the hook is entirely wrong and unfair to Auckland ratepayers."
He said the council was looking at a bill of $400 million-$500 million - more than for any capital project.
National Party building and construction spokesman Nick Smith said bills to rectify leaky homes would "completely kneecap" councils and the Government had to intervene.
He said the government was "very exposed" over the leaky homes issue and millions of dollars had been wasted setting up the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service, without fixing the problem.
"The scale of bills faced by councils will make them so financially weak they will not be able to invest in much needed infrastructure, especially in Auckland.
"The Government has no choice other than to be part of the solution. I hope the Government will come to the party, but I wouldn't hold my breath."
