12 Aug 2015

Thousands of Canterbury repairs to be reviewed

12:24 pm on 12 August 2015

Thousands of underfloor repairs to earthquake damaged Canterbury homes will be reviewed after a government inspection revealed substandard building practices.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has completed a review of 101 Canterbury homes where earthquake repairs had been carried out, mostly by the Earthquake Commission (EQC).

The inspection was in response to a smaller survey which revealed quality issues at 13 out of 14 repaired properties.

Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee said he had received preliminary findings of the inspection, which identified shortcomings with underfloor repairs.

He said no repair work posed a risk to homeowners, but MBIE was investigating what recourse could be taken against Licensed Building Practitioners whose work had not been up to scratch.

He said the EQC would review all properties where underfloor structural repairs were carried out without a building consent, to ensure work was brought up to code.

This would be done at no cost to the homeowner, Mr Brownlee said.

Mr Brownlee said the homeowners involved in the survey would be contacted to talk through the individual findings in the coming weeks.

He said MBIE and EQC would comment further when the final report had been completed.