(Newswire.net — April, 9, 2013) Victoria St, Wellington, NZ — With recent changes to the code of conduct, sellers are now asked to expose all weathertight defects to real estate licencees before the property goes on the market .
A Brief history into the Leaky Homes Crisis
It was the popular plaster coated monolithic clad homes that were letting water into the wall cavity and not allowing it to get out again. As opposed to standard weatherboard homes, which have an airspace in behind and below for drainage and drying.
Moisture would become trapped inside of the wall and because of poor sealing standards at the time and lack of flashings to windows.
In 1997 the law changed around untreated timber being allowed to be used in homes. The timber used, no longer needed to be treated with Boron (prevention of borer). That same treatment improved the resistance of rot, so it was really a combination of these two things that amounted to a lethal dose that effected a nation.
2002 the Government commissioned, what is known as the Hunn report, to investigate the issues of leaky homes, which speedily resulted in a change to the Building Act 2004. As a result we now use monolithic cladding with an air-cavity, allowing for proper drainage as well as properly treated timber. The government – at the same time – set up the Weathertight homes tribunal for claims of compensation.
After a swath of litigation for repair claims against local councils for issuing code of compliance certificates from negligent inspections. The Government then commissioned Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC) in 2009, in which damning evidence uncovered by of the investigation exposed an estimated repair bill of $11.3 Billion for 42,000 affected homes.
A Financial Assistance Package in 2011, was set up by the Government for leaky homes, in which they contribute 25% to approved repairs.
Leaky homes has been the catalyst to the tightening of quality and protection around property in general. We will continue to see more regulations to prevent this crisis from happening again.
For more information about Leaky buildings or monolithic cladding contact The HABiT
Contact Name: John Brien
Address: 72 Victoria St, Lower Hutt, Wellington
Phone: 04 570 0014
Website: www.thehabit.co.nz