The Local Democracy service of the TVNZ has reported that Mr Deepak Lal is facing a huge fine for building his house in the wrong place.
A mere one metre difference between where Mr Lal’s house was built and where it should have actually been located could now cost him a huge sum to fix.
It is reported that Mr Lal had contracted Auckland construction company Pinnacle Homes to design and build the home.
The the three-bedroom house was to be built in Papakura by mid-2020.
However, Mr Lal was surprised when he got a call from the construction company.
They told him that the work has been stopped as there was a boundary mix-up with the neighbours.
The neighbouring property is owned by C94 Development.
C94 is now taking legal action against Mr Lal over the boundary mix-up.
The company wants Mr Lal to move the house or pay $315,000 in damages.
Mr Lal told Local Democracy:
“It’s a nightmare for me. I wake up in the middle of the night and think ‘how am I going to solve this?’”
had hired Hamilton-based company HQ Designs to come up with the plans and file the building consent for the house.
Mr Lal adds that HQ Designs, hired by Pinnacle Homes, filed the building consent and Auckland Council approved it.
Nitin Kumar of HQ Designs believes that the local council is ultimately responsible for this mix-up.
Mr Kumar said when he filed the building consent he asked the council to cross-check it against the resource consent for the site.
“I clearly noted it in the building consent and said they needed to read it in conjunction with the resource consent. It’s the council’s responsibility to check it.”
Mr Lal’s lawyer Matt Taylor wrote to Pinnacle Homes and HQ Designs in September 2020:
“It seems likely that the issue has arisen as a result of an error made at the design stage likely to have occurred when the resource consent information was transferred by the designer to the plans submitted for building consent.”
Pinnacle Homes’ project manager Johnny Bhatti told Local Democracy that he realised there was something wrong and found the error.
“The first person I called was the surveyor. But he had actually marked the house in the right place according to the building consent. I notified Mr Lal and that’s when everything stopped.”
He added that he is willing to help Mr Lal move the house at a cost of about $150,000.
NZ Herald reports that Auckland Council spokesperson has confirmed they have been notified of the issue and are looking into it.
Mr Lal is looking forward to an amicable solution and hopes that he will get out of this nightmarish situation soon.
