Multi-unit Parnell case put at $15m

Robyn Horsfall, a business management trainer and coach, discovered leaks in her Farnham Tce unit in Parnell when water seeped into a spare bedroom wardrobe.

The townhouse owner sold that two-bedroom unit and upgraded to three bedrooms in the same complex, a move she regretted last week as she watched the latest tradesman making repairs to the 41-unit Parnell block.

"This sucks," said the former accountant and auditor, who was once a human resources consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers.

She now runs her own business, Coaching for Success, but said that since September 2004, owners had collectively spent $1.2 million on legal and repair bills after engaging consultants Alexander & Co to report on the state of their places.

Moisture metres and invasive testing revealed huge problems and at $15 million, the Parnell case could be the country's largest active multi-unit leaky building litigation, although problems at Nautilus in Orewa also emerged in the past few days. Estimates of costs to fix that block have ranged as high as $19 million.

Cracked cladding, water pouring into the garage underneath the complex, decayed wood and breaks in the "waterproof" membrane beneath paths and decks are just some of the issues at the Parnell property.

Robyn Horsfall's unit does not leak but she says its walls are damp.

As the chairwoman of Farnham Tce body corporate committee, she spends hours every week dealing with distressed owners and other consequences of the building's problems.