Court settles leaky homes row

An Auckland apartment body corporate has won the right to force a landlord to help fix their leaky building.

Jewett Investments Limited went to the Court of Appeal because it believed it was not liable to pay the $122,120 levy required to fix the Castle Glade apartment complex in Birkenhead.

Jewett, which owned two units in the complex, agreed the defective exterior of the complex was common property that the body corporate had a duty to repair but said the body corporate, as a result of a High Court case it has won over the developers, designers, builders and marketers of the complex, no longer needed to levy.

The body corporate's solicitors, as a result of the High Court win, had a trust fund of $9.8 million.

However the body corporate said the remedial work called for had been and was always to be met by levying all the owners and that because Jewett had not joined in the 2005 claim, it was not entitled to the trust money.

The body corporate contended that if the sum in trust had been drawn down and the levy not made, Jewett would have benefited without any right.

A term of the settlement of the High Court was that Jewett was not to benefit. Jewett was said to have sold eight units, after leaks became evident, saying it was unaware of any impending cost or liability.

With two others, the developer and builder Eastbourne Construction Limited, and the architect, designer and project manager Ottow Burke Holdings Limited, it was required to contribute $425,000 to the settlement made to the other owners and to the body corporate.

The appeal by Jewett Investments was refused and they are required to pay the costs of the body corporate.