The Wellington apartments crisis is a civil crisis

Opinion: There are two contrasting but major stories about taking the battle over to government and companies in the past week that are worth considering.

The first is a lawsuit against Wellington City Council (WCC) by BNZ for $ 101 million for negligence in the new Wellington Building near the waterfront, which the World Council of Churches approved and the Compliance Act. It failed miserably at first during Seddon and then in the Kaikōura earthquakes which made it in need of demolition.

The World Council of Churches claims that it bears no responsibility.

The second is the collective action taken by the leaked homeowners in a $ 220 million lawsuit against building products company James Hardy for the Harditex cladding system that failed so spectacularly that it resulted in thousands of people losing their homes, with minimal equity.

Read more: * Urgent action is needed on apartment law reform, according to the Law Society. Reinforcement * More than seven years after the Christchurch earthquake, Wellington races to secure dangerous façades * Wellington’s priority buildings are being reinforced within 7.5 years

In a 2008 PwC report to the government, it was estimated that 42,000 buildings, most of them private homes, were affected at a cost of $ 11.3 billion. Other experts are not very conservative. They say nearly 90,000 buildings were affected, at a cost of $ 23 billion.

Despite routine tests showing that the product was not water blocking, James Hardy claims it does not take any responsibility.

Spring forward to the humanitarian and civic crisis affecting Wellington right now. For which no one, once again, appears to accept responsibility.

Before the Kaikoura earthquake in 2016, Wellington apartment owners were buying carefully.

They did their due diligence. They purchased an apartment or house that has been certified, by the council, as above the Earthquake Compliance Code. Earthquake proof. content.

Until the rules were changed and it was not.

Supplied

The Sirocco Apartments in Wellington have been highlighted as an example of the devastating problem facing substandard apartment building owners.

To give you an estimate of the costs imposed on homeowners in the capital at the moment to strengthen the earthquake, a 100 square meter apartment with a valuation of about $ 600,000 amounts to nearly half a million dollars.

That has nearly doubled in four years and is unlikely to be the final figure. This is a $ 10M repetition bill among fewer than 20 owners. And remember, in a building that’s already been reinforced and certified as compatible.

In fact, what this means is that the costs are greater than the home’s value. Banks will not finance what appears to be a vulnerable and risky investment.

Add to this the nightmare scenario, from which the local and central government operates, the cost of earthquake insurance. The monthly costs of earthquake insurance alone are unaffordable. The General Authority for Companies fees have jumped fourfold as insurance companies hold homeowners more than a barrel.

I have to mention that most of the buildings that I know personally are heritage buildings that have not experienced structural damage at all, either in the Christchurch earthquake or the Kaikoura.

But do not let this affect the policy on abstract theory.

The compliance system is Rort. The assumption that it would be better for “the wider public” if buildings were to be strengthened to this level, which had never been affected within 100 years of earthquakes, is a good civic gesture, but the government should contribute to it.

Because what will happen, and is already happening, is that the owners will leave this city. They will go out. Constrained by ancient heritage rules prohibiting the demolition of buildings arguably of historical significance, bound by hitting a brick wall to access financing, and facing the pressure of losing everything they worked for, the city will descend into a lamentable state.

What is at risk here is broader than the homeowner’s crisis; It is, as mentioned, a civil crisis.

There are actually huge numbers of vacant buildings, most of them in the city center, and many of them in Cuba’s historic district.

It is time for central and local governments to think long and hard about what they want this city to look like and how much they are willing to pay for it.

Because they’re pricing the homeowners – the Stratosphere won’t be overrated – out of the equation.

And again, no one accepts responsibility.

Tom Lee / Staff

David Musgrave and about 1,000 other homeowners are suing James Hardy in Oakland Supreme Court for $ 220 million. It is one of the largest mass trials in New Zealand history.

You can see why people are angry. With very little to lose, they go down the path a brave group of leaky homeowners did. Don’t rule that out, Wellington.

* Leslie Hamilton is the owner of an apartment in downtown Wellington.

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