‘Home sweat home’

Press, 19 December 1985, Page 3

‘Home sweat home’

By

SARAH SANDS,

property reporter

Buying a house that needs 520,000 worth of improvements may not be every-’ one’s idea of a dream home, but to a young Christchurch couple, it is perfect. - Philip and Julie Tompkins are the successful candidates for the first “sweat equity” house to be offered in Christchurch by the Housing Corporation. The house is an 80-year-old, three-bedroom weatherboard home and the work required to modernise it is daunting. The Tompkins plan to demolish the back part of the house, which includes the kitchen, dining area, laundry, toilet and bathroom, lay a concrete floor, and completely rebuild that part of the housed Some interior doorways will be altered to create maximum living space, the ceilings throughout the house will be lowered to an economic height for heating, and the iron roof will be replaced with colour steel. Under the sweat equity scheme, the corporation buys houses badly in need of renovation. These houses are then made available to young families with a modest income. The families rent the homes while renovating them, then purchase the house from the corporation. The work they have put into the house is taken into account in the purchase price. The Tomkins’ house in Cashel Street was bought by the corporation for just under $30,000. In the next year a further $20,000 will be advanced to the couple to pay for the improvements.

It is expected that the renovations would be complete within 12 months and

a timetable to achieve this will be drawn up by the corporation. Advisory services will be provided by the corporation, and the work will be checked regularly by building inspectors. At the end of a year, the Tompkins will pay a deposit and the balance of the mortgage will be paid over 25 years with an interest rate between 5 and 15 per cent. Mr Tompkins is a leading hand carpenter with the Fletcher Development Corporation. His father and brother are electricians, and so work on the house will be a family affair. The Tompkins will stay in their $7O a week, two-bed-room flat for the next four weeks during which demolition of the back section of their house will start. Rent on the house will be $3O a week.

The Housing Corporation’s rental housing manager, Mr Charles Consedine, said that considerable interest had been shown in the scheme.

About 30 sweat equity houses were available throughout New Zealand but only two are in Christchurch. Details of the second house were yet to be settled, but it would probably be in Addington, he said.

One of the most important aspects in the success of the scheme was to have a person with adequate skills involved in the house.

“If they don’t have the skills themselves they need a dedicated family who can provide these skills. We cannot afford to get the roof off then find the guy can’t get it back on.”

The Minister of Housing, Mr Goff, was in Christchurch yesterday to look at the house and give the Tompkins they keys.

He said they would have hard work ahead of them, but the reward at the end was a home of their own which they had fully renovated.

“I think the scheme will be successful. The reason it will be is because there is a long tradition in New Zealand of people wanting to do things for themselves,” Mr Goff said.

Another reason for its success was that the corporation took care to select people who not only had enthusiasm but also skills to do the job. The Tompkins have two children, Matthew, who is almost three years old, and Nicholas, who is eighteen months.

The couple had applied for the other recent corporation ■ scheme, equity sharing, but had been unsuccessful.

In some ways they were glad of this, they said, because the sweat equity scheme allowed them to renovate the way they wanted to.

“Anyway, we couldn’t afford a house that you didn’t have to do anything to.”