Home > Our Publications > New Zealand Outlook > 2004 > September

BUYING your own home in New Zealand is not as simple as it seems and has hidden dangers, even for the experienced homebuyer. This is mainly because Council laws and building relations are not always as tough as in the UK.
The moral is to not rush into buying a house shortly after arrival, check out local Council building regulations and speak with local estate agents and have a professional survey of the house you wish to buy, before buying.
A migrant family in Dunedin may have to leave the husband in New Zealand and return to Liverpool because they bought a poorly renovated house.
Emma Dowling (27) said her nine-month-old child, Jamie, was lucky not to have been hurt when the ceiling had collapsed on to his bed, in the first of a series of problems at their Ravensbourne home.
"We have lost all our savings on this house and on the rent we have to pay while this whole thing gets sorted out," she said. "It's just about broken us. We haven't got much left, and it looks like we will have to split up the family to get through."
The family had left Liverpool for Dunedin early this year after Mr Dowling had been offered a job as a sheet-metal fabricator at a Dunedin company. They had looked at several homes soon after they arrived, and had spent $400 on builders' reports for houses they had missed out on buying.
Despair had turned to hope in April, when they had found a two-bedroom house the day it was to be auctioned. But they had not got a builder's report and said they had relied on a clause in the sale contract, declaring the property had the city-council building approvals it needed.
After sinking almost all their money into a mortgage, they had bought the hillside house for $110,000 - and had only realised something was wrong when the first heavy downpour in May had sent water through the master bedroom and sodden insulation through the ceiling, on to their sleeping baby boy.
They had not been able to stay in the house, and had stayed in motels and then in rented accommodation. A building report had revealed the master bedroom was a converted carport, and not all the modifications to the house had been approved by the council.
Building consultant Ken Buswell said there had been a "considerable" number of additions which did not have consent and did not comply with the building code. Fixing the carport-cum-bedroom could cost $20,000.
Mr and Mrs Dowling said they were continuing to pay a mortgage and rent, but because they did not
yet have New Zealand residency, they were not eligible for Work and Income assistance, nor a Housing New Zealand home.
They were planning legal action to test the contract, but Mrs Dowling might have to return to family in England to keep costs down, leaving her husband in a rented home in Dunedin.
"It's just so frustrating. My husband was recruited here to do a job that did hot have enough people to do it in New Zealand, but when something happens, there isn't any support. We've had to do all this on our own," Mrs Dowling said.
The lawyer for the previous owner of the house, Antony Hamel, said his client had done all he could to get the problems identified by the Dowlings fixed. His client had offered a $3000 cash settlement, and was prepared to get the work done himself to keep the new owners happy. His client believed most of the "suspect" work had been done before he bought the house, but accepted he was wrong to think his work did not need a permit.
Mr Hamel hoped the issue would not make it to court, but said his client was prepared to put his case.