Owners of leaky homes win city council payout

The owners of 26 leaky terraced houses in Grey Lynn have been paid just under $2 million by the Auckland City Council in a repairs settlement.

Although details remain confidential, the Herald understands the owners of the West End Apartments were seeking up to $2.1 million to repair their leaky homes and that the settlement was close to that amount.

The claim was laid against the council on the grounds that its inspectors were negligent in issuing a building consent and inspecting the Livingstone St units while they were being built in 1996 and 1997.

They were also allegedly negligent in issuing the final code of compliance certificate.

By 2001 the terraced houses were leaking and poor workmanship was evident. Owners began suffering from stress and depression.

The owners brought a claim in the High Court at Auckland against the council, builder Link Construction, project manager Dalton Management and James Hardie NZ (now called Studorp). Since then the builders and project managers have gone into liquidation.

The remaining parties were due to meet for mediation on December 15.

In a report written the day before, the council was urged to contribute up to $2 million towards the $4.3 million claim.

The report said that failure to settle would lead to an even more expensive court case.

Yesterday, the council's risk services group manager, Richard Hall, said the claim had been settled but he would not discuss the details.

Lawyer Paul Grimshaw, who acted for the owners, also said he was unable to comment on the case.

The owners are understood to be happy with the deal and are now working on repairing the damage.

One woman said the only outstanding grievance was an emotional one with developer Tim Manning.

Mr Manning developed West End through his Taradale network of property companies. He is listed as the director of 68 other companies, nearly half of which have gone into liquidation.

He could not be reached for comment last night.

Legal action

* Auckland City Council has paid out just under $2 million to settle a leaky building claim with the owners of West End Apartments in Grey Lynn.

* The homes were developed through Tim Manning's development company Taradale, which has other leaky building claims against it.

* Other legal action against Taradale developments includes a $19.2 million claim by 153 owners at the Sacramento complex in Botany Downs and a $1.2 million claim by 10 owners in Ponsonby.