Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Council's leaky home compensation claim thrown out

Updated at 2:02 pm on 27 June 2012

The former North Shore City Council has failed in its bid to get compensation from a Government agency for a leaky building development.

Leaks in the Grange residential apartments arose from the use of face-fixed monolithic cladding over untreated timber framing.

The council, now part of Auckland Council, paid compensation to the Grange body corporate and individual unit owners, who claimed the council was negligent in issuing a building consent.

The council then took its own legal action against the Attorney-General, the successor of the Building Industry Authority.

The council said the Building Industry Authority owed it a duty of care and should have told it there were potential problems with the council's building control practices.

But the Supreme Court on Wednesday released a judgement upholding a Court of Appeal decision that found the council's loss resulted from its own negligence.

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