Phillipa Miller-Ibos at her flood-damaged home in Auckland. Photo: RNZ / Amy Williams
Nearly three years after storms caused devastating flooding in Auckland, 16 homeowners remain in dispute with the council about buying out their properties.
Auckland Council expects to have bought just over 1200 high-risk homes by the end of this year when the $1.2 billion scheme shared with the government draws to a close.
Phillipa Miller-Ibos is renting elsewhere and paying a mortgage on her home in Avondale that she hasn't lived in since it flooded in 2023.
She wants a buyout but Auckland Council's recovery office disagrees - the house is category one, meaning it can be fixed.
"I get nervous every time I come back because I'm like is somebody going to be in there, are there going to be pests in here. This was a beautiful place, I'd finally bought a place and council just doesn't seem to care at all."
On the night of the Elton John concert in 2023, she returned home to find water had rushed down the steep driveway, flooding a sleepout and the ground floor of her house.
There are still remnants of a landslide that blocked the front door.
"Water's come up through here and into the house and this was all a landslide right up to the door, we couldn't open it so we've dug a trench," Miller-Ibos said.
"It's been red stickered with the placards and I've been fighting with council since."
The remnants of a landslide that blocked the front door. Photo: RNZ / Amy Williams
There's also a creek at the bottom of the property.
"If I did fix it, I then sell it off to somebody else with council's full knowledge of this and they think that that's okay and it's disgusting," she said.
"I'm not a mean person and I'm not going to do that to somebody else. That's why I'm here doing the best I can to fix a situation that should never have been allowed to happen."
This week, Miller-Ibos said independent engineers were coming to assess her home as part of the dispute process with council.
"Of course this isn't safe, there's just no way to fix it in a way that is viable and future focused."
The buyout scheme closes on 19 December, by which time sale and purchase agreements have to be signed - settlements will continue into next year.
So far 944 buyouts have been accepted, of the nearly 1200 eligible homes eligible.
Water rushed down Miller-Ibos' steep driveway, flooding a sleepout and the ground floor of her house. Photo: RNZ / Amy Williams
The council's general manager of group recovery, Mace Ward, said it had worked through 500 disputes and the final 16 homeowners were in various circumstances.
"They may believe the category's not the right category in terms of the scheme or they're wanting to better understand why that particular category has been assessed for their home," he said.
"There are cases that are outside the scheme terms, very personal circumstances at a family level or potentially negative equity or financial circumstances as well."
Ward said the council hoped to resolve the remaining disputes before the scheme closed.
"Our focus has always been on giving people certainty as soon as we can but what we have found as things take time, there's always individual circumstances and individual complexities to work through."
Huapai homeowner Brendon Deacon, his wife and children had a harrowing escape from floodwaters in both 2021 and 2023.
Now their home is almost the only left in a row of houses down a cul-de-sac that backs onto a creek.
Brendon and Stephanie Deacon at their property that was considered category one by Auckland Council despite their neighbours all being category three following flooding. Photo: RNZ / Luka Forman
The Deacons' home was labelled category one by the council, meaning there was no intolerable risk to life for the family.
They disputed that but the council disagreed, so they asked for a buyout under special circumstances and that was also declined.
"We're trying to figure out a way to get out. We need to rent it and go and live somewhere else because we can't sell it. All our neighbours have gone so it's pretty obvious when you walk down our street what happened to our house."
Deacon said real estate agents told him it's not worth listing for sale.
"They didn't think it was even worth taking it on to try and sell it."
The Deacons were considering their options for legal action.
"We've had our life tipped upside down. Not only have we had the flooding and how that's affected our own family and the safety of our children but then financially...you work hard all your life and something like this comes along and destroys it."
Lyall Carter heads West Auckland is Flooding (WAIF), a group representing flood-affected homeowners.
Lyall Carter heads West Auckland is Flooding. Photo: RNZ / Kate Newton
His own home was bought out after the flooding.
"My heart absolutely goes out to those people who are trapped in a circumstance that no one would wish upon anyone and I'm saddened that they are still stuck in this process."
Carter said the buyout scheme has been a good process for the majority but for some, the legislation behind the scheme had fallen short.
"One of the things that I and WAIF and many others have asked for in this process is that there can be some lenience for those, and understanding, for those few that are caught in this terrible situation."
Meanwhile, the council was in contact with 23 Auckland homeowners who were still living in at-risk properties because they decided not to sell as part of the buy-out scheme.
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