Board called on to help repair 'sinking’ home

Press, 15 December 1982, Page 6

Board called on to help repair 'sinking’ home

The Christchurch Drainage Board had a “moral responsibility" to assist with repairs to a Sydenham house which was sinking in its foundations because of a drain'on the property, said a board member, Mr M. J. Dobson, at a meeting last evening. The board's development and construction committee has recommended that the board refuse a Christchurch

City Council sugestion that it offer some assistance to the owner of the house, Mr S. C. Anderson. Mr Anderson had asked the board and the council for help in repairing his sinking house, asserting that the damage was caused by the renewal of a drain outside his Huxley Street property more than two years ago. Both the board and the council, which allowed part

of the house to be built over the drain easement, had legal opinions clearing them of any responsibility. Mr J. F. Davidson said he had been to the property and would “strongly dispute" the statement that the south-east

Mr J. F. Davidson said he had been to the property and would “strongly dispute" the statement that the south-east corner of the house was on solid ground. The piles had been sinking for the last 18 months, and after having been under the house and into the drain itself, he ascertained that the damage had been caused by the drain. He had been talking to City Council engineers, who had come up with further plans for work to be done on the property. He said that Mr Anderson had agreed to pay a third of the total cost which would mean he paid about $lOOO instead of the $5440 which had been quoted by private contractors. The council and the board could pay the balance, Mr Davidson said. Mr Anderson was a senior citizen and it was totally beyond his means to pay the full cost of the repairs. The board referred the matter back to the operations and services committee.