Rise in claims for leaky homes service

The number of leaky-home victims seeking state assistance is ballooning.

The Weathertight Homes Resolution Service, which provides inspections and assessments of leakers less than a decade old, has received claims for 7626 places. Its figures are up by more than 1000 claims on this time last year but are nowhere near the estimated 110,000 monolithic-clad residences built before 2006 when the rules changed to stem the leaks.

Data from the service, run by the Department of Building and Housing, showed the expanding scale of the issue estimated to cost $11.3 billion-$22.8 billion to fix.

"The department has received 5951 claims lodged for 7626 properties and completed assessments for 7772 properties," said the service, which runs a settlement process to help resolve claims between homeowners and those responsible for leaks.

A year ago, the department had 5646 claims lodged for 6399 properties and completed assessments for 6056 properties, it said.

Leaky-home victims can either use the state system or take civil litigation through the courts. The state system has been criticised as restrictive, bureaucratic, flawed and under-resourced while the court system has been criticised as too expensive, benefiting lawyers mainly and resulting in little money being left for repairs.

The six worst-hit city councils - Manukau, Auckland, North Shore, Waitakere, Tauranga and Wellington - face another expensive year, defending themselves from massive claims without state backup. The Government's contribution so far has only been to pay for 2 per cent of the disaster funding the Weathertight Homes Resolution service and Weathertight Homes Tribunal.

Reports in December said the Cabinet would this year consider the previously announced proposal that homeowners who drop legal action would pay 64 per cent of the cost of repairs, councils 26 per cent and 10 per cent from the Government.

The PricewaterhouseCoopers report for the department released on December 22 showed 22,000-89,000 houses leak and the consensus view was that 42,000 houses leak. Of the total claims, 1933 are active and yet to be resolved, 1303 have been resolved and 2715 have been closed for a number of reasons. About 85 per cent of claims which go to the service are for monolithic-clad buildings. Of the 1933 active claims, 1483 are pursuing resolution, 325 are awaiting a decision and 125 are having eligibility assessed.

Eligibility assessments are free for people using the state system but to get a full written report on their dwelling, they pay the service up to $1500.