What does it really cost to reclad a leaky home in New Zealand? The answer might surprise you !
How much would it cost to reclad their house? Experts estimate it could cost more than $300,000 to reclad a two bedroom townhouse. And this does not include other holding costs you incur such interest on your current mortgage, rates, insurance), and it also excludes the cost of renting another place to live while your house is being reclad. 6 months of renting at $500 per week adds up to $12500.
Unfortunately, although only a few of the townhouses in the block are deemed leaky, the council has insisted that the whole block of townhouses be reclad with weatherboard.
Even though your unit is not leaky and you can prove it, the city council still requires have to pay the costs to have it reclad.
The unlucky thing is Financial Assistance Package scheme is no longer available to assist homeowners who need financial contribution towards repairing leaky home. The assistance stopped on 23 July 2016.
So what can you do if you have a leaky home?
Not much really. Either you have to come up with $300,000 or you have to sell the unit. If banks are not willing to fund it, you are unlikely going to get a good price on your unit.
So what does this lesson remind us of? That even if you get the location right, you still need to make sure the building is built of a quality standard. Weatherboard is much safer choice than plaster homes. Even if you had an building inspection carried out, there is no guarantee that a plaster cladding won’t leak later.
If are not sure whether the building cladding is prone to leaking, better to avoid the property than risk having to come up with $300,000 later to have it repaired.