City’s P-procedures praised by Institute

Waitakere City Council’s procedure for dealing with houses contaminated by P (or Clan) laboratories has been praised by the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand as a model for others to follow . Institute Vice-President Howard Morley says that the methods used by Waitakere City Council should be adopted as a model by other councils around New Zealand.

The Council has an understanding with the Police that they will be informed when there are P busts, after which a cleansing order (under the Health Act) is placed on the property and a note attached to the property’s LIM report that the property is possibly contaminated.

Mr Morley says Waitakere’s system will help protect innocent house buyers and tenants.

“I would want to know if I was buying a house in Waitakere tomorrow that it wasn’t contaminated by P. Cleansing a house from P isn’t a matter of just wiping down the benches. I think Waitakere is doing a great job of getting this into the open, their co-operation with the police and making sure the houses are cleaned up properly,” says Mr Morley.

Waitakere City has also signed a memorandum of understanding with the police to foster even better co-operation to beat crime and anti-social behaviour.

Councillor Penny Hulse says a by-product of the memorandum of understanding is an undertaking from the Police that they will inform the Council whenever a lab has been busted or detected.

“This ensures that we are notified about suspect premises,” she says.

The Council requires the owners of houses found to be contaminated to have the property cleaned by an approved contractor and then provide scientific analysis from an approved laboratory that there is no residual threat to public health.

40 Council field staff have undergone intense training in how to detect P labs.

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