Stuff
Leaky building expert lawyer Adina Thorn says council’s refusal to release documents relating to leaky homes, does not fall within the definitions of their response of legal privilege. This article looks at the current dollar cost to Council of the leaky homes crisis.
Auckland Council has estimated its total payouts on leaky buildings will be almost exactly $300 million, just a fraction of the estimates for the national cost of the crisis.
While no-one will ever know exactly the cost of fixing all leaky buildings, many of which have been left unrepaired by their owners, a 2008 PwC report to the Government remains the best estimate at just over $11 billion.
Most of the tens of thousands of leaky buildings, both low and high rise, are in the areas covered by the seven councils which merged to form the super city.
In response to an Official Information Act request, Auckland Council said it had paid out about $242m since 2001. The council’s latest financial statements for the year ending June last year showed it had also provided for a further $59m for leaky building payouts.