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The Mayors of New Zealand's two largest cities are preparing to go cap in hand to the Government in a bid to convince it to accept most of the liability for the billion-dollar leaky homes crisis.
Within the next month Auckland Mayor John Banks and Wellington Mayor Kerry Prendergast will put a proposal to Prime Minister Helen Clark and other senior MPs that would see homeowners pay no more than a quarter of their leaky home repair costs.
Under this plan, which has the backing of several other mayors, the Government would meet most of the liability for the leaky homes crisis, with smaller contributions from building firms and architects. At present, homeowners are liable, with many trapped in their rotting homes.
They have to sue local councils, architects and builders to recoup their losses.
However, the proposal is unlikely to ease the misery of residents of a luxury apartment block in Parnell's George St, who have just discovered they will have to foot the bill for a multi-million-dollar refit. The 15-year-old building is covered in sheeting and scaffolding while workmen carry out repairs.
An estimated 80,000 people across the country are living in homes that have either leaked or are at high risk of leaking.
The cost in financial terms is huge, with local councils across New Zealand facing an estimated total bill of between $660 million and $2.1 billion.
Banks said he believed a 25/75 split was a reasonable compromise for homeowners and ratepayers.
The bulk of the leaky home problem is in Auckland, and Banks estimated the cost for Auckland alone would be around $500m. "We simply cannot afford to fund this out of rates, so everyone's going to have to come to the party," he said. "My ratepayers cannot afford to pay."
Banks - who had to cough up $1 million to repair his leaky Paritai Drive home - told the Herald on Sunday the proposal he and Prendergast planned to submit to the Government was a fair compromise.
Local councils could also come to the party with a range of financial options to help homeowners, including dropping charges for resource consent applications.
Prendergast said the meeting with Clark was aimed at "getting New Zealanders back into homes that don't leak".
But, she said, homeowners had to accept some liability for their repair bills.
"They purchased the home, they own it."
Labour's Minister of Building and Construction, Shane Jones, said he did not have a "silver bullet" to fix the problem but understood metropolitan mayors were "grappling with the financial costs" of what was a major crisis.
"It's unfair to say the homeowners are at blame here, but I understand where Mayor Banks is coming from," he said.
"But understanding and agreeing are some distance apart. If they want to meet in the near or distant future that's reasonable."
National Party spokesman for building and construction Nick Smith said he welcomed any potential solution to the crisis.
However, Home Owners and Buyers Association president John Gray remains unconvinced.
"These people have done absolutely nothing wrong - it's the councils that have failed them," he said.
Leaky home owners had suffered enough, he said, with many either going to the wall financially or suffering ongoing health issues.
"It's just an awful, awful mess - the councils have a lot to answer for."
