Report says 9000 owners of leaky homes to miss out

About 9000 home owners will never receive compensation for damage to their leaky homes, leaving thousands of New Zealanders unable to repair or sell their properties.

A PricewaterhouseCoopers report issued yesterday estimates between 22,000 and 89,000 homes are affected, with a consensus figure of 42,000.

The review, commissioned by the Government, said only 3500 homes had had repairs done and about 9000 had gone beyond the 10-year legal liability limit period. Any failures that occur outside the 10-year period become the owner's responsibility.

Based on the figure of 42,000 affected homes, the report estimates the total repairs at $11.3 billion.

Philip O'Sullivan, a director of leaky homes specialist firm Prendos who was credited with bringing the problem to light, said the numbers were ball-park figures but realistic and the total costs were what he expected.

"But it's crystal ball-gazing - no one really knows."

John Gray, a leaky-homes campaigner, was pleased the report had been released. "The top end is more in line with what we believe, but it's a good basis for what we do next."

He said the report missed the point that leaky homes were more than just an Auckland problem - it was New Zealand-wide.

He hoped that whatever the Government decided to do it would include the homeowners caught outside the 10-year limit.