Property

Dream home becomes newcomers' nightmare

A migrant mother looks set to leave her husband in Dunedin and take her sons back to Liverpool, after their hopes of a better life were scuttled by a poorly renovated and increasingly expensive dream home.

Friday, July 16th 2004

Emma Dowling, 27, said her 9-month-old child, Jamie, was lucky not to have been hurt when the ceiling had collapsed on to his bed, in the first of a series of problems at their Ravensbourne home.

"We have lost all our savings on this house and on the rent we have to pay while this whole thing gets sorted out," she said. "It's just about broken us. We haven't got much left, and it looks like we will have to split up the family to get through."

The family had left Liverpool for Dunedin early this year after Mr Dowling had been offered a job as a sheet-metal fabricator at a Dunedin company. They had looked at several homes soon after they arrived, and had spent $400 on builders' reports for houses they had missed out on buying.

Despair had turned to hope in April, when they had found a two-bedroom house in Seddon St, the day it was to be auctioned. They had not got a builder's report and said they had relied on a clause in the sale contract, declaring the property had the city-council building approvals it needed.

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Heartland Bank - Online 6.69
SBS FirstHome Combo 6.74
Wairarapa Building Society 6.95
Unity 6.99
Co-operative Bank - First Home Special 7.04
ICBC 7.05
China Construction Bank 7.09
BNZ - Classic 7.24
ASB Bank 7.24
ANZ Special 7.24
TSB Special 7.24
Unity First Home Buyer special 6.45
Heartland Bank - Online 6.45
China Construction Bank 6.75
TSB Special 6.75
ICBC 6.75
ANZ Special 6.79
ASB Bank 6.79
AIA - Go Home Loans 6.79
Kiwibank Special 6.79
BNZ - Classic 6.79
Unity 6.79
Westpac Special 6.39
China Construction Bank 6.40
ICBC 6.49
SBS Bank Special 6.55
Kiwibank Special 6.55
BNZ - Classic 6.55
Co-operative Bank - Owner Occ 6.55
ASB Bank 6.55
AIA - Go Home Loans 6.55
TSB Special 6.59
Kainga Ora 6.99
SBS FirstHome Combo 6.19
AIA - Back My Build 6.19
ANZ Blueprint to Build 7.39
Credit Union Auckland 7.70
ICBC 7.85
Heartland Bank - Online 7.99
Pepper Money Essential 8.29
Co-operative Bank - Owner Occ 8.40
Co-operative Bank - Standard 8.40
First Credit Union Standard 8.50
Kiwibank 8.50

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