Auckland man facing $315,000 bill after house built in wrong place

adsense

PHOTO: Deepak Lal is facing a bill of up to $315,000 over the boundary mix-up. Source: Local Democracy Reporting

A developer is suing an Auckland home owner after a building consent error saw his property built right on the neighbour’s boundary.

The one metre difference between where Deepak Lal’s house was built and where it should have been located could cost him hundreds of thousands to fix.

Lal had contracted Pinnacle Homes to design and build the home, in Papakura, and by mid-2020 it was almost complete.

But work on the three-bedroom house came to a grinding halt in August when the construction company called to tell him about the boundary mix-up.

The neighbouring property is owned by C94 Development and the company is now taking legal action against Lal over the boundary stoush. It wants him to move the house or pay $315,000 in damages.

“It’s a nightmare for me. I wake up in the middle of the night and think ‘how am I going to solve this?’” Lal said.

Pinnacle Homes had hired Hamilton-based company HQ Designs to come up with the plans and file the building consent for the house.