The Star: September 07, 2017
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20 Thursday <strong>September</strong> 7 <strong>2017</strong><br />
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Star</strong><br />
News<br />
Family’s house in midst of shoddy<br />
Monday marked<br />
seven years since the<br />
first earthquake hit<br />
Canterbury. Since then,<br />
thousands of homes have<br />
been razed and tens of<br />
thousands more repaired.<br />
Or have they? Lawyers<br />
and experts believe<br />
Christchurch is sitting on a<br />
multi-billion dollar ticking<br />
time bomb. Kurt Bayer<br />
reports<br />
KEN AND Lucy Palepoi felt like<br />
they’d won Lotto. Owning their<br />
own home before they’d even<br />
turned 30. Two kids, a third on<br />
the way.<br />
As soon as they moved in in<br />
2015, they hung a picture. “Being<br />
able to put a nail in the wall, in<br />
your own wall. That felt pretty<br />
good,” Ken says.<br />
<strong>The</strong> 1940s character home,<br />
with its stucco cladding and<br />
rounded edges, was perfect for<br />
the young family who’d just<br />
moved to Christchurch from<br />
Dunedin for work opportunities.<br />
And it was paying off.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Woolston home needed<br />
GRIM: Lucy and Ken Palepoi with their children (from left), Liliana, 2, Leilani, 8, and Tai’moana, 4.<br />
PHOTO: KURT BAYER<br />
some attention, but they were<br />
happy to chip away, when they<br />
could afford it.<br />
“Everything pointed to this<br />
house having really good bones,”<br />
Lucy says.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y paid above market value.<br />
Earthquake repairs were already<br />
organised – some were already<br />
done, they were told. Exterior<br />
plasterwork cracking, minor<br />
cosmetic stuff. To be on the<br />
safe side, the Palepois got the<br />
Earthquake Commission deed of<br />
assignment.<br />
But months went on and<br />
nobody came. Lucy, stay-athome<br />
mum, chased up EQC.<br />
Finally, an assessor arrived. It<br />
was deemed a $30,000 patch-up<br />
job. EQC passed over the money<br />
and the Palepois got plasterers to<br />
size up the job.<br />
One quoted $42,000 but<br />
wouldn’t guarantee his work<br />
until the 70-year old foundations<br />
were looked at. Cracks there<br />
were dismissed as minor by EQC<br />
assessors. Pre-1970s foundations<br />
were suddenly a major issue for<br />
Christchurch homeowners.<br />
<strong>The</strong> 2016 Valentine’s Day<br />
quake “reopened a spider’s web<br />
of cracks”, Lucy says. Windows<br />
wouldn’t shut properly.<br />
It was clear the damage was<br />
more than cosmetic. “I hounded<br />
EQC,” Lucy says. “I’d phone<br />
them and play nice. I’d phone<br />
them and cry. I’d phone them<br />
and yell.”<br />
Last December, they finally<br />
got another EQC assessment.<br />
It returned grim findings. One<br />
corner of the house is sinking.<br />
<strong>The</strong> property needs lifting up,<br />
so workers can dig 4m deep to<br />
find solid ground to build new<br />
foundations.<br />
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Call 377<strong>07</strong>70<br />
email:<br />
service@blindcare.co.nz<br />
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Phone 3770 770<br />
330 Cashel St, Christchurch<br />
Between Fitzgerald & Barbadoes St<br />
service@blindcare.co.nz<br />
www.blindcare.co.nz