New assessment guidelines are reclassifying houses which were previously written off as being repairable, leaving owners up to $180,000 worse off. Kathryn talks to Leanne Curtis, spokesperson for the Canterbury Community Earthquake Recovery Network, and Renee Walker, spokesperson for IAG New Zealand.
The bill to fix botched EQC repairs from the Canterbury earthquakes has hit $270 million - four times what the previous Government predicted just two years ago. The Minister responsible for the Earthquake Commission, Megan Woods, has asked Treasury to urgently crunch some figures to give the Government an idea of its future liability, with many experts warning thousands more homes may be affected. The former Canterbury Rebuild Minister Gerry Brownlee, who was in the job for six years until a year ago, speaks to Guyon Espiner.
Repair work on Christchurch's iconic Town Hall, badly damaged in the earthquakes, has nearly hit the halfway mark.
People can walk over Christchurch's Bridge of Remembrance once again, after nearly seven million dollars in earthquake repairs.
In its latest update, the Earthquake Commission says it will have to manage repairs to 50-thousand homes moderately or seriously damaged by the Canterbury earthquake four weeks ago.
The Earthquake Commission could have a big job on its hands fixing quake damaged Christchurch homes for a second time.
Many Christchurch residents have used shipping containers and other temporary structures to store belongings in while repairs were carried out after the earthquakes. But the Christchurch City Council says it's had an increase in complaints from residents about containers and other temporary structures obscuring neighbours' views or obstructing council berms. Chairman of the council's regulation and consents committee David East says if earthquake repairs are completed, the container may have to go.
It's almost eight years to the day since the first Christchurch earthquake, and as anyone who lives in Christchurch knows, some insurance claims are still in dispute. Dodgy repairs are still being discovered and previously undiscovered damage is being found. Earthquake Commission minister Megan Woods says as problems emerge, people can come back and ask for re-repairs or have their home looked at. But just how much money is in the National Disaster Fund?
Georgina Hanafin says EQC has offered her $48,000 to fix her house, which has a repair bill of $260,000. She also has a mortgage of $300,000 for the house she purchased after the Christchurch earthquakes.
The Christchurch City Council says it needs Government money to help repair its earthquake damaged heritage and character buildings.
Christchurch businesses are calling on the council to keep the New Brighton pier open while earthquake repairs are completed.
Christchurch businesses are calling on the council to keep the New Brighton pier open while earthquake repairs are completed.
Christchurch builders are worried asbestos repairs in the earthquake rebuild will continue to cause problems for years to come.
Canterbury homeowners are questioning the validity of a survey which was supposed to independently test the quality of earthquake repairs.
The statue of the Antarctic explorer, Robert Falcon Scott, that toppled from its plinth and snapped at its ankles in the Christchurch earthquake is being repaired. all going well it will be reinstated later this year, just in time for the Antarctic summer.
The Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee says all but a few Cantabrians will be able to rebuild on their original properties.
The Transport Agency says initial repairs to State Highways damaged in the Canterbury earthquake could cost up to six million dollars.
17 jobs have gone at the Christchurch Art Gallery, which is closed for earthquake repairs until at least June next year.
An historic Christchurch clock tower damaged in the earthquakes was unveiled today, after undergoing more than eight hundred thousand dollars of repairs.
Some Christchurch residents are angry they will have to wait almost three years before their severely earthquake damaged homes can be repaired.
More than 600 Christchurch home-owners face a wait of up to 18 months before its decided who foots the bill for earthquake repairs that could cost hundreds of millions of dollars. The problem - first revealed on Checkpoint in March - is that owners bought homes thinking all quake damage had been identified and fixed - only to find more problems that weren't addressed. The people affected cannot claim on their insurance - because the damage pre-dates them buying the house - and any grant from the Earthquake Commission is capped. EQC has publicly apologised to those affected but the Minster, Megan Woods, says it's unclear who will pay for the needed repairs.
Some Christchurch residents fear there's a risk to the region's history if headstones damaged by September's 7.1 magnitude earthquake are not repaired.
Victoria Square, the slightly less famous cousin of nearby Cathedral Square was re-opened today following $7.5 million worth of earthquake repairs.
A Christchurch construction firm says businesses who are complaining about losing money on earthquake repair jobs should work more closely with their project managers.
Two years on from the February twenty second earthquake, large parts of Christchurch Hospital are a construction site as repairs to damaged wards continue.
The owners of more than three-thousand properties damaged by the Canterbury earthquake have been told the repair job could take nearly three years.
Fletcher Construction has won the largest building contract in New Zealand history to repair half of the Canterbury homes damaged in last month's earthquake.
Christchurch council has asked its residents to tell it if earthquake repairs haven't been done so it can accurately assess their property's value.
Investigations into handling of asbestos in Canterbury earthquake repairs and a man's appeared in court charged with the murder of the Auckland woman, Blessie Gotingco.
A Christchurch man, whose house was damaged in the earthquakes, has challenged his insurer's CEO to live in it if she truly believes it's repairable.