Leaky home up for sale in prime beach spot
Weather-tightness report says house on huge section has to be bowled
APa¯pa¯moa beach home bought without a code of compliance three years ago is back on the market after further investigations found it was leaky and had to be bowled.
The owners picked up the unfinished 1990s three-storey home on a large 1498sq m corner site spread over three titles on Sandhurst Drive as a project during lockdown in 2020.
They had planned to transform it into their dream home.
Harcourts listing agent Belinda Cairns, who is marketing the property after selling it to the current owners four years ago as a project, said they began by doing a small makeover on the home including laying new carpet, renovating two of the bathrooms and installing double glazing.
They also extensively landscaped the gardens and pool area, creating a resort-style vibe, and built a double garage at the back of the section.
“They’ve landscaped it so when you are downstairs it really feels like you are in Fiji just with the landscaping and the pool.”
However, their plans changed last October after a weathertightness report, done as a part of the requirements for getting the code of compliance certificate, revealed the house was leaky.
The property is now being marketed as a pull-down property that needs to be dismantled and rebuilt.
“The moisture is coming in through the timber in the ground and that’s locked into the concrete base so there’s no way to kind of fix that,” Cairns said.
The property would now suit someone who had the money to tear it down and build their dream home, she said.
Some of the materials, such as the new joinery and bathroom fittings and fixtures, could be saved and reused, she said.
Rebuilding a two- or three-storey home meant the new owner could also make the most of the views out to the Pacific Ocean.
The multiple titles also meant two homes could potentially be built there providing it was in keeping with the site’s strict covenants.
The property, which has a combined rateable value of $3.505 million including a land value of $2.395m, is currently priced by negotiation.
Cairns said it was difficult to put a price on the property because there was nothing comparable, especially with such a large section, spread over three titles, and so close to the beach.
It was also in a central corner site just across the road from Papamoa Beach and close to the new Coast Boulevard shopping centre, which had a Fresh Choice and Good Home Gastro Pub.
In December last year, a leaky home in Totara Heights, in South Auckland, sold under the hammer for $900,000, exceeding the owner’s expectations by $140,000.
The Silkwood Grove home’s weather-tightness issues were visible throughout the house, and it was eventually bought by a builder who planned to fix it and live in it as his family home.
4 Sandhurst Drive, in Pa¯pa¯moa, Tauranga, is for sale by way of price by negotiation