Apartment owners in Wellington are upset over a “hideous eyesore” that appeared outside their backdoor without being notified by the developer.
Ryan Clare and Aoife Murphy are among those who have recently moved into the Sunset West complex after buying a unit off the plans last year, through the Kiwibuild scheme.
But at the time of signing the paperwork, they hadn’t been told about an unresolved issue that required relocating a power transformer and installing a fire protection system outside their apartment.
The structure with sprinklers had been attached to the couple’s courtyard wall, meaning they have to walk underneath it any time they leave their backdoor.
“It is a pretty hideous eyesore and I guess you just have to look at it to see how bad it looks,” Ryan Clare told Fair Go.
They discovered it in June this year while checking on the progress of the development. The couple asked the developer, Nightingale Group, to explain the situation but say the first response was brief - the 'sprinkler pipes' were a 'council requirement'.
Aoife Murphy says she felt the company’s reply was "kind of a 'nothing to see here' situation", which would kind of make you think to yourself, 'Am I the mad one?'”
In August, the pair put a message out on Facebook as their soon-to-be neighbours still weren’t aware of the sprinkler system installation.
Clare says they would have hoped that the company, “would have brought the issue to our attention, rather than the other way around. It would have at least shown some good faith, it would have gone a long way to actually resolving the issue if they did front foot it”.
Nightingale Group Director Simon Nightingale told Fair Go they "sincerely regret" that communications with the pair have strained and acknowledged they, "should have communicated earlier to the buyers".
But he says they made it clear that "there was nothing we could do" about the sprinkler, "because council required the structure as it was".
In 2017, the plan had been to put the power transformer on nearby council land. But in September 2020, the Wellington City Council denied them permission to use public land.
So the transformer had to be placed onsite, ending up outside some of the apartments. The transformer was there by the time the couple signed the sale and purchase agreement in November, but they say they didn't know it was permanent.
Nightingale says the initial design for the sprinkler "wouldn't have been visible" from the couple's apartment but in January, council guidelines required the pipework to be three metres high so it wouldn't become a hazard to the public.
Wellington City Council had no input into the sprinkler design and told Fair Go the request to put the transformer on public land was "unusual" as transformers are normally housed within the footprint of any development.
An independent valuer has assessed a $25,000 loss to Murphy and Clare's unit as a direct result of the transformer and sprinkler.
Nightingale Group has refused to offer that amount in compensation and instead initially gave the couple the option to cancel the contract and get a refund on the deposit. That was a month before Clare and Murphy were due to move into their new home.
Nightingale Group did settle with another apartment owner, which they deemed to be worse affected, for $9000. It says the valuation of the pair's apartment isn't accurate and that any negative effects are outweighed by how much their apartment is already worth in capital gain.
The couple were since offered a $2000 reduction on the price of their apartment, but they say that doesn't even cover their lawyer fees.
Murphy says the ordeal has "put a sour taste on something that would otherwise have been so exciting".
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