Queenstown meeting on rotting homes

National is holding a public meeting on the rotting homes crisis in Queenstown next Friday.

National Housing spokesperson Dr Wayne Mapp said Central Otago people had contacted National’s website with concerns over rotting homes and worries about their loss of equity.

“Leaky buildings are a problem in this area because a building boom has meant so much development in recent years, and we know there will continue to be new development.

“Queenstown and Wanaka are the worst affected because of such huge growth in the past five years, and Cromwell is affected to a lesser extent.

“Many people, from young couples starting out to people retiring, are heartbroken at what they’ve discovered about their homes.

Dr Mapp said a lawyer and possibly other experts would address the meeting. “Those affected need to get together and have input into the best way to deal with these problems which the Government still hasn’t provided solutions for. People with a leaky and rotting home today still have no answers.

Hundreds of people turned out to eight public meetings run by National around the country late last year.

“The Government followed National’s proposal to set up a dispute resolution process for homeowners, and finally last month moved to tighten building industry regulations, but it still hasn’t addressed the issue of treated and untreated timber and committed to survey homes so that we know the scale of the problem.

“Developments wouldn’t have happened without National championing the interests of homeowners. But more changes are needed. We encourage people to come to the meeting to discuss ways to solve this crisis,” said Dr Mapp.

The public meeting will be held on Friday 10 January at The Rocks Bar, the Quality Resort Terraces Hotel, 88 Frankton Rd, at 12.30pm.

© Scoop Media