Thousands apply to earthquake repair fund

CHRISTCHURCH: Thousands of Christchurch homeowners have applied to a $300 million programme to fix botched earthquake repairs.

‘‘Onsolds’’ have been a nightmare for hundreds of Christchurch property owners since the earthquakes.

They are properties that have been bought after the earthquakes by unsuspecting owners who later discovered earthquake damage or botched earthquake repairs.

Jonathan Claridge was among those homeowners.

He and his wife, Sophie, bought their first home in Christchurch in 2015.

Earthquake repairs had been ‘‘signed off’’, but within a month they began noticing problems.

‘‘The first things we noticed was cupboards opening on their own, and the overall level of the house changing a little bit.’’

The original repairs were botched — 30 piles needed to be replaced and the entire ring foundation redone.

‘‘It was a traumatic time, getting told your primary asset is worth nothing is pretty emotional,’’ he said.

In August 2019, the Government announced a $300 million programme to address issues like this — the Claridges are now in the programme and repairs expected to cost $320,000 are under way.

They are hoping the work will be completed by the start of 2021.

After five years of ‘‘limbo’’, Mr Claridge said he could now ‘‘see the light at the end of the tunnel’’.

EQC programme head Pip Andrews said the programme already had more than 2700 applications and almost 550 of those had already been settled.

Half were given payment so repairs could be done and the other half were deemed ineligible for assistance from the programme.

But the uptake was far higher than EQC had predicted.

‘‘Initially we had thought there would be around 1000 homeowners, so what we’ve found is there are a significant number that have lodged with us following a mailout we did recently.’’

The estimated cost of the repairs from the applications received so far was ‘‘roughly $250 million’’, Ms Andrews said.

She believed at this stage the $300 million would be enough.

Applications for the programme close on October 14 and there is no opportunity for homeowners to apply after that date.

EQC Minister Grant Robertson said the Government would honour its commitment to people with accepted applications.

‘‘Estimates of costs are just that.

‘‘At this time the EQC board has not notified the minister they will require additional funding,’’ he said.

‘‘When we announced the programme last year we estimated it could cost about $300 million to repair the homes.

‘‘Assessing properties and determining the cost of repair is complex and it will take some time for the full cost of the programme to be determined,’’ he said. — The New Zealand Herald