Sir Barry's house slips further

The former mayor's house and neighbouring properties have been condemned. Photo / Dean Purcell

The ground under former Manukau mayor Sir Barry Curtis' unit has moved further overnight, the local council said today.

An extension to the cliff-top unit on Clovelly Rd in Bucklands Beach had separated from the main building.

The former Manukau City mayor was already battling his insurance company over a payout relating to previous subsidence.

The lawn area had fallen by more than a metre since Monday and the driveway has cracked and dropped along the fault line. The back of his apartment is almost hanging off the building.

A council spokeswoman said today there had been further movement since yesterday.

She said geo-technical advisers were assessing the extent of the new movement and how it might affect the property and others.

Sir Barry told the Weekend Herald he is "absolutely crushed" that the state of his home has worsened, and it is now teetering over a cliff.

Worse still, his insurance company is refusing to pay up.

The deterioration of his property has been hard to take, Sir Barry says.

"I'm absolutely crushed. It's disrupted my life and more and more it's becoming a sorrowful state of affairs."

Sir Barry moved into the unit, which is joined to two other apartments, in 2004 when his daughter and son-in-law moved to Australia.

In mid-2005, he discovered a crack on the side of the building and after a large landslip last August, he and his partner were given an hour to pack their things and get out.

A few days after the landslip, Sir Barry told the Herald: "You've got to go through this kind of experience - with glass breaking around you at two in the morning and [hearing] loud cracks - to really appreciate the movement of earth can be extremely dangerous."

His home and the properties of several of his neighbours have been condemned by the Earthquake Commission and the Manukau council.

People are being warned not to go near the properties or the nearby beach, for fear of further landslides.

Manukau's group manager for environmental operations, Carole Todd, said the partial building collapse - with the increased land movement - was a clear demonstration that there was still significant danger.

Sir Barry says he is seeking to take his case to the High Court, after his insurance company refused to pay out because, it said, the landslide was not covered by his policy.

"Never did I think that an act of God would not be good enough for an insurance company not to pay me out."

He says he's been left high and dry, "while my property has crumbled before my eyes over four and a half years".

"It's absolutely appalling and I've been put under enormous pressure."

- additional reporting by NZPA