Auckland Council gives in: Will pay for leaky Nautilus apartments

Auckland Council will pay $27.3 million awarded by the High Court at Auckland to the 160 owners of the iconic 12-level Nautilus leaky apartment building at Orewa.

The council is appealing two minor points in the judgment but they do not affect the substantive judgment. The two appeals have been lodged with the High Court to protect the council’s position.

Councillors at the governing body meeting yesterday agreed council officers should continue exploring avenues to recoup costs from other parties who may have had liability.

The court action was one of the country’s biggest leaky building cases. Lawyers say the decision was a landmark case and by far the largest awarded to building victims. The building has 140 units and cost $35 million.

Owners spent $2 million on the litigation over the building, constructed by Brookfield Multiplex (NZ) from 2002 to 2004. The company is now in liquidation.

The lawyer who took the suit, Tim Rainey told NBR ONLINE earlier the body corporate had not received a settlement offer before trial but, after the six-week hearing, the council made an offer. The owners refused.

“I can’t tell you what the offer was but I can tell you, if you put the settlement offer alongside the judgment, you’d have to have rocks in your head to have accepted it.”

The body corporate’s successful action was against the council, the builder and other contractors.

The money will stay in a trust fund and be used to repair the building, while two ex-owners will get money directly because they claimed for a loss on their sales.

Work on repairs will begin later this year.

Sally Lindsay
Thu, 28 May 2015

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Auckland Council gives in: Will pay for leaky Nautilus apartments

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