A third sinking home in New Plymouth
A third New Plymouth property owner has come forward with a story of a sinking house.
While one property owner is still living in her house as is twists and sinks around her, a second sold to a developer, losing thousands in the process.
Peter and Kathleen Adamski now want to make their story public claiming they lost hundreds of thousands of dollars after demolishing their house when it began to sink into the ground.
They could not rebuild because an engineering report concluded the land, which the New Plymouth District Council had originally issued a consent for the house to be built on, was unfit as a construction platform.
Even after drilling down 11 metres, engineers didn’t hit solid ground. Despite having no house, the Adamski’s are still paying the mortgage.
The property is next to one that used to be owned by Annette Corbett, which had similar issues with subsidence.
Corbett came forward earlier this week after reading about Barbara Hardwidge whose house is twisting and sinking after being built on a sawdust pit.
The Adamski’s bought the house at 46B Cameron St, New Plymouth in May, 2008.
Farmers, they rented the house out intending to eventually move into town in the future.
The couple got a variety of reports when they bought the house, but not a LIM – the land information memorandum that details everything the council knows about a property.
The New Plymouth District Council, which is the consenting authority for homes in the district, has previously recommended those wishing to purchase a property should get the report.
But in Corbett and Hardwidge’s case the LIM didn’t detail soil quality and so would not have alerted them to potential problems.
Like Corbett and Hardwidge, the Adamski’s house was built in the early 1990s.
The first problems with the house were more ‘‘leaky home’’ than issues with the ground.
‘‘We got up to 60 per cent moisture levels in the house,’’ Peter said. ‘‘But we were outside the timeframe for leaky homes, so we couldn’t claim.’’
Then the house started to move. Eventually the tenant fell through the floor boards.
Doors kept moving, cracks appeared and by then the subsidence had become visible. After spending thousands on reports they decided to demolish the house and start again.
It was during this process that engineers drilled the three holes that failed to hit solid ground, Peter said.
The geotechnical report said the section was an ‘‘unbuildable site.’’ ‘‘We walked away.’’
NPDC ‘‘didn’t want to know’’ and they were passed from person to person, Kathleen said.
‘‘It was very emotional, stressful. We lost a lot of sleep.’’
Their lawyer advised them against ‘‘taking on’’ the council, saying councils had deep pockets, and they had no way of winning.
‘‘If we didn’t own the farm we’d be on the street.’’
After a year of haggling with NPDC they got a concession on their rates, Peter said.
Last year, they sold the empty section to a neighbour for $30,000. In today’s market their house would have been worth upward of $1 million.
‘‘The person who we sold it to has since sold his house, so we don’t know what has happened to the section now.’’
The couple say they are ‘‘lucky,’’ because they could support each other through the stress and have the farm.
At the time they considered going to TV programme Fair Go, but decided to tell their story now to support Corbett, Kathleen said.
‘‘We know what she’s going through.’’