The dream of an apartment shattered by a decade-long earthquake reinforced the nightmare

Apartment owners in Wellington are aware of the risks of earthquakes. But for some, the government’s efforts to keep them safe and for others pose bigger concerns. Rob Mitchell’s report on an inner city building and on the painful landlord’s earthquake strengthening operation.

Gus Charteris owns a 250sqm “lovely” New York loft-style apartment in the heart of Wellington, just a few steps from the inner city streets.

He hasn’t set foot for nearly two years. He is unlikely to set foot again.

Instead, he finds himself more than 300 kilometers away in a modest home in Hook Bay, a self-imposed exile contemplating a life very different from the one he had imagined.

He says it was a life “in the heart of the city”. “I really wanted to be out of it all. I didn’t want to move around, I wanted to walk to work, I wanted easy access to the gym, and to be able to come and go.”

John Cowland / Staff

Gus Charteris now calls Hawke’s Bay home, even though they own the “Dreams” apartment in Wellington.

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So the Economic Development Advisor did his due diligence, paid a good deposit in 2006 and bought his dream apartment worth $ 690,000 in a converted factory inside the city, and his house was one of the largest buildings in the 17-unit building.

She was “absolutely beautiful … painfully gorgeous, and that made me feel”.

Stuff agreed not to name the building, a former plant a stone’s throw from Te Aro Park, because some owners are concerned about the impact on their property values. Chartres sells his apartment. Others are considering a similar move.

Dean Kozanik / Staff

Buildings are being strengthened from earthquakes across New Zealand.

Chartres was so fascinated by the building and the life it represented that he ignored early talk of the need to reinforce the work.

“There were mumblings that at some point we will need to consider the earthquake strength of the building, and Wellington City Council has begun its Initial Assessment (IEP) procedure,” he said.

The IEP was a desk review of building stocks in the city prior to 1976, and an assessment tool to help local bodies determine the strength of their property.

Chartres, who was then chair of the corporate committee for the building, was glad that the World Council of Churches was so active. And there was a little concern when “we all got nice messages saying … you are likely to be prone to earthquakes.”

It was 2008. The Christchurch earthquakes were still three years away, Kaikoura eight years away, and the institutional body committee had been consolidated behind a solid plan.

A preliminary engineering assessment determined that the building was stronger than initially thought, but that the new building’s rating was still below 33 percent and therefore needed reinforcement.

That was about $ 60,000, but is divided among all owners.

He said, “It was worrying but we knew it was going to happen, and we gave a nice long time frame to commit to the work, and then we started saving seriously to do the work.”

Joseph Johnson / Staff

The Christchurch earthquake changed everything for Chartres.

The Christchurch earthquakes changed everything, devastating large parts of the southern city and your dream charter life.

Many Wellington property owners have found themselves in the same predicament since the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake and changes in legislation have forced them to reinforce their buildings.

“At the time, we were paying $ 25,000 to secure the building,” he says. Immediately after Christchurch, their insurance went to $ 95,000, then to $ 330,000 the following year. That averaged $ 19,400 per year or per unit.

The owners refused to take out insurance, and broke the unit titles law. The initial engineering firm withdrew, citing concerns about doing business with body companies. There was a second company and then a third company where the owners tried to come up with a plan.

Chartres estimates that they spent $ 250,000 on the engineers.

Initial estimates put the boost up to $ 500,000. That sum quickly grew to $ 2 million as a committee of owners tried to pressure increasingly to restrict burdened engineers and contractors and ever-changing regulations.

“We were just volunteers, people with no construction experience, and we had really busy lives and complicated jobs.”

RNZ

The massive Alpine Rift was caused by another major earthquake, and scientists have created a scenario for what the devastation will look like. (First published May 2018)

The building was not damaged in the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake, but the emergency legislation that followed required owners to secure the barriers and facades of their buildings.

“We asked the World Council of Churches if we could do this work as part of the reinforcement, which was rejected,” said Chartres. “So we ended up spending $ 200,000 … and lost 1 year to 18 months planning to run this project.”

Years passed, cost estimates increased further and hair became gray. The engineers then informed the committee that the future of the project is tied to the adjacent building, meaning that negotiations have grown to 35 owners, each with their own level of risk and tolerance for financial trouble.

When they withdrew “at the last moment”, the size of the project, which started with $ 500,000, reached $ 2 million, and is now more than $ 6 million delayed and cost about $ 8 million.

This is where it is now.

I pressed the corporate body, and the work will be completed in the next month or two. Engineers expect a new, record-breaking rating for buildings of 76 percent.

But Chartres will not return.

Rosa Woods

Wellington Market is closed underground due to the strength of the earthquake. It is one of many structures facing an uncertain future.

Like the neighbors in his building and many others, his dream of an inner city shattered, his love affair with the city shattered.

“I’ve been living with him, going through the process of strengthening earthquakes for over a decade now, and it has affected my mental health, anxiety and my ability to be able to do other things in life,” he says.

“I’ve suffered from depression. At some point, you need to draw a line down some things in life and I need to draw a line under this and move on … I just needed to remove myself from Wellington, because I was completely over it.”

It also broke the community of owners who were initially monotheistic and committed.

“We’re keeping it friendly now but we’re not spending any time with each other, because we’ve seen each other in our absolute worst feelings.”

Which leaves the 44-year-old former CEO of the company sitting in a modest home in Hawke’s Bay, contemplating an entirely different future.

Chartres spent about $ 650,000 on the strength of the earthquake alone. There were tens of thousands of other people in engineering appraisals, legal bills, and many other costs.

In total, he is estimated to have lost around $ 1.5 million in the apartment.

“It completely limited the options I thought I would have had at this point in my life.”

Ross Giblin

Inner City apartment owner Paul Flewelling has moved and may come back, but his wife has moved on.

A small house and a smaller future

The apartment’s owner, Paul Flewling, didn’t think he’d live in a “tiny” home on the outskirts of town, and was still paying a huge mortgage at the age of 50.

But that’s what he and his wife had to do to “stay sane” while repairing their earthquake-prone apartment. It was supposed to take nine months. Almost two years later, they’re still waiting.

Like others, the technology coach is unsure if they will return when contractors hand over the keys in two months.

His wife, Sally, does not want to return. “It was her first place … it really affected her, really shattering her dreams of home ownership.”

Others were forced into rent, and pushed themselves to the brink of bankruptcy.

Fluling and his wife “partially bought, partly built” a small house and rents out a small plot of land for him on Island Bay.

Their 45m2 apartment cost $ 235K in 2008, and their share of repairs is $ 177K. This is in addition to their contribution to the reports of several engineers.

Negotiations with the banks became so stressful that Flewelling’s attorney had to hug him.

“In its darkest moments, this [lost future] It is real pressure. You feel like you failed, you idiot. “

This future might have included children, but “this pushed us down a certain path.”

Rosa Woods / Staff

Many building owners in Wellington have faced exorbitant seismic bills in recent years.

The government’s role is extremely burdensome

It’s the government tax that really upsets Rod Burke.

The builder and roofer went to the earthquake-prone apartment three and a half years ago with wide eyes open, and paid less than the market value of his 90-square-meter property, but calculated that he would need another $ 280,000 for his share of the earthquake-strengthening bill.

“It’s currently $ 360,000, and there is no end in sight,” says the 62-year-old.

He can live with that – “I took a gamble, that’s a risk” – but now he and his wife have to move daily from the North Levin estate while the earthquake strengthening work is completed for two years.

“Between 15 and 20 hours a week to commute,” he says. “I’m tired.”

Despite this, Burke still considered himself more fortunate than most. Other apartment owners had to rent in the city and “ran out of their money for more than two years”.

The government is getting more fortunate, Burke says.

It is believed that between $ 1.8 million and $ 2.2 million of the $ 7.7 million project will end up in government coffers – a combination of goods and services tax, income tax and other fees.

In 2018, apartment owners demanded some tax breaks, but this was rejected. “Do I want some of that?” He says. “I’d like to see the conversation at least.”

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