New Zealand's Leaky Homes Saga

New Zealand's Leaky Homes Saga - Mark 2 in 2026

It turns out that warnings to National that them watering down building compliance standards would put the country at risk of another "Leaky Homes Saga" were prescient.

This week, industry figures warned that over the last two years, corresponding to Chris Penk's tenure as NZ Building Minister, the country has been flooded with low quality, non-compliant and fake certification building products.

And while these products can be 20-40% cheaper than competitor products, they are more likely to leak, fail and cause serious issues.

These products are getting into the country and despite MBIE being informed 8 months ago, with a list of over 20 companies, it appears that these cowboys are still operating unimpeded.

National's solution appears to be to push the problem down to councils, advising councils to "look carefully" at the paperwork.

What?!

So let the cowboys use fake certificates, shoddy products and underhanded techniques to dominate the market, all while doing very little to stop it, and then tell Councils to "read the paperwork carefully?"

Let's be honest - Penk and Luxon were warned about this. But they wanted us to be like Estonia.

I can't seem to reply to comments on this blog but I'm sure I'll figure it out one day

Have a great day and watch the market if you're looking out for a new home or build

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