Illegal house could be torn apart

16–20 A house that had its floor area doubled without the builder getting consents may have to be partially torn apart during checks to make sure it is safe to live in.

The unregistered builder, Richard James Easther, was fined $6500 in the Palmerston North District Court yesterday for building without a consent.

Judge Lance Rowe said a fine of $12,150 would have been appropriate, but reduced it due to Easther’s limited means.

Easther, a sickness beneficiary with few assets, moved in to a house on Watershed Rd, Bunnythorpe, having entered into a relationship with someone else who lived there in 2010.

He did extensive work on the house between 2011 and 2018, putting in a new kitchen, bedroom and covered deck, as well as other internal renovations. The work doubled the floor area of the house, but he got no consents.

Paul Greig, appearing in court for the Manawatu¯ District Council, said a consent for the work would have cost $4500.

Retrospective consents were not granted, but the owner of the house was working toward getting an application of acceptance – effectively a statement declaring the house was safe to 22–23 live in, he said.

However, some of the work Easther did meant parts of the house would have to be torn out to ensure work was up to code.

Easther had helped, though, by providing X-ray images of the foundations, Greig said.

Defence lawyer Phillip Drummond said Easther had no previous convictions and was honest about not getting consents as soon as the council got in touch. Furthermore, the owner of the house was also aware of the lack of consents, he said.

Easther had since split with the owner and moved out, so was not in a position to do remedial work.

The judge said the maximum fine for this kind of offending was increased from $100,000 to $200,000 in 2013, showing how serious it was.

As a builder, albeit now unregistered, Easther knew his obligations, the judge said.

‘‘You carried out the work and you deliberately did so without a consent.’’ 24–25

‘‘You carried out the work and you deliberately did so without a consent.’’ Judge Lance Rowe