Leaky homes financial assistance package passed

[Kiwijo]

Owners of leaky homes can get their homes fixed faster following the third reading of the Weathertight Homes Resolution Services (Financial Assistance Package) Bill in Parliament today, Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson says.

Under the $1 billion package, qualifying home owners will receive a 25 per cent contribution from the Government and may receive 25 per cent from their local council. The contributions will be based on actual repair costs.

Find the rest of the article on......
www.nznewsuk.co.uk/news

[Super_BQ]

I'm quite pleased how the NZ gov't has stepped in to provide assistance to such home owners. The scale of the damage is so great that there's really no choice but the gov't to help out. If a similar situation were to happen in the US, they usually let the courts to figure out a solution, meaning the private companies that approve and build faulty homes will be held accountable. In NZ's case, the use of such designs that caused leaky house syndrome were not extensively tested in NZ conditions; yet at the time, they had separate testing authorities such as BRANZ that approved of the design (through political reasons). I believe the previous authority of BRANZ was called BIL. A good example is the plaster over polystyrene cladding commonly used in N. American homes. (the reason why houses in N. America using this type of cladding do not rot has to do with moisture control through the HVAC system; a system not used in NZ as residential houses rely on passive heating / cooling. Anyways this is a major topic on it's own.

Tax payers funding the 50% is quite generous considering most people that have a mortgage may be caught up in a major repair while being ie. 90% mortgage if they're a new home owner. The cost to exterior recladding the whole house could be 80% of the total value of the house. So the 50% help is a welcome help - though a leaky house will still put the mortgaged home owner in a worse situation financially.

[ralf-nz]

Tax payers funding the 50% ...

According to this bill tax payers will be carrying 25% via the Crown's contribution.

If the relevant Local Authority joins in another 25% will be carried by the respective rate payers.

[ralf-nz]

Owners of leaky homes can get their homes fixed faster following the third reading of the Weathertight Homes Resolution Services (Financial Assistance Package) Bill in Parliament today, Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson says.

Under the $1 billion package, qualifying home owners will receive a 25 per cent contribution from the Government and may receive 25 per cent from their local council. The contributions will be based on actual repair costs.

Find the rest of the article on......
www.nznewsuk.co.uk/news

And another site for you to add to your favourites might be this http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/ with a huge amount of further information.

In this instance re Weathertight Homes Resolution Services (Financial Assistance Package) Bill you will be led to http://www.legislation.govt.nz/bill/.../versions.aspx which provides you with the actual text of this bill and also introduction, comments and other relevant papers.