Speed the essence for leaky home owners

Raindrops on a window to illustrate leaky homes story. Photo / Martin Sykes

Owners of leaky homes which are almost 10 years old should move quickly to register for the Government's $1 billion rescue package which passed into law yesterday.

The legislation, which passed its third reading with a unanimous vote, sets up a funding package under which affected homeowners receive a 25 per cent contribution towards repairs from the Government and may receive 25 per cent from their local council. They can pay the rest through bank loans.

However, the package is only available to owners of homes less than 10 years old.

"I would urge home owners close to the 10-year limit to 'stop the clock' by lodging a claim with the Department of Building and Housing now," said Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson.

Details of the deal including terms of loans from banks would be released in about two weeks A website and 0800 number would then go live immediately.

Mr Williamson told Parliament the deal would allow thousands of homeowners to get out of the trap they had been caught in.

The leaky home problem emerged in the 1990s and Mr Williamson said no one thing was to blame.

"This was a systemic failure across the entire industry," he said.

Labour MP Nanaia Mahuta said while her party supported the legislation "we do want to acknowledge there are still a number of issues that are left unresolved".

She said the legislation did not provide any solution to owners who were not found eligible under the act, those whose homes were more than 10 years old, owners who had already begun repairs and those whose homes were signed off by private certifiers.

Many eligible homeowners would simply lack the ability to borrow their 50 per cent share of the repair bill. Labour also feared speculators would take advantage of the package, buying up damaged homes cheaply and repairing them using the package before selling them for a profit.

- additional reporting NZPA