Nick Smith says he is "delighted" a $15 million defamation lawsuit against him has been settled out of court.

It is notoriously hard to fix up a leaky building that has been poorly designed or built to start with.

Speaker Lockwood Smith has confirmed the Beehive's roof is not watertight and there is no money available to fix it.

The number of known leaking schools is now 145, double the estimate in September last year. The worst will benefit from $82 million allocated in the Budget for remedial work in the next year.

An apartment owner in one of the country's worst-affected rotting blocks wants to help thousands of others through the leaky building nightmare.

The government's description of the leaky building issue as a "natural disaster of huge proportions" is both a clever device and a dangerous precedent.

Leaky-home owners are likely to flood the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service with applications so they meet strict eligibility rules for aid.

The Govt will today present a new package to local authorities on how to divvy up payment of the billions it will take to repair leaky buildings.

The Govt will today present a new package to local authorities on how to divvy up payment of the billions needed to repair leaky buildings.

John Gray, President of HOBANZ - The Home Owners and Buyers Association of NZ, responds to a recent Bernard Hickey column which suggested the Government should not spend billions bailing out leaky home owners.