Loan rejection upsets builder

Press, Volume CXVI, Issue 34085, 24 February 1976, Page 16

Loan rejection upsets builder

A Christchurch builder (Mr John Verhoef) is upset because two town houses that he has built are not up to the minimum standard for Housing Corporation loans. Mr Verhoef said that he

built the houses using eightinch concrete blocks butj .because the walls were not strapped and lined, the Housing Corporation would not; approve them for loans. He said he had water-: proofed the walls so that! leaking — the reason the; corporation insisted that the; ■walls be lined — would not: ibe a problem. , Another reason given for! 'the refusal o.f a loan was; |that the houses were less; ithan 12in from the ground. The manager of the Housing Corporation in Christchurch (Mr Gordon Corry) said that the corporation’s position on this matter was quite clear. “Unless we supervise the; ■ construction of speculative (houses to ensure that the; concrete blocks are correctly; used, then they will not be' (suitable for loans,” he said. I Mr Corry said this was a, regulation ' that throughout the country, and' was not a new one. With-' regard to Mr Verhoef’s case,! Mr Corry said tisat it would' be virtually impossible to [check if the blocks had been; correctly used because even! [cutting holes in the walls; might not give a true picture' ■of the whole situation.

“By having the walls 'strapped and lined, any water: That leaks through from the] [outside can drain down the' (inside of the wall without; i showing through.” he said. i The other matter of the' (houses not being built far; enough above the ground' iwas also quite serious, he said.