Risk that homeowners may have fallen through gaps

The potential for some storm-affected homeowners to have fallen through the cracks has been acknowledged by the Tāmaki Makaurau Recovery Office. 

The opportunity for Aucklanders to register for the Auckland Council’s categorisation scheme closed on September 30. 

“We are sorting out some rules for ourselves around what discretion might be used to accommodate people who do miss the deadline,” said chief executive officer Phil Wilson.

Being an opt-in process, means some home-owners may have missed out on getting their property assessed and categorise based on whether there is an ‘intolerable risk to life’ from future storms, and whether there is anything that can be done to reduce the risk. 

 “We are going to have to be quite firm on that but there will be situations, I have no doubt, where a little bit of latitude and a little bit of discretion needs to be exercised,” said Wilson. Though he makes it clear that discretion might be considered only in very exceptional cases.