Land settlements put EQC between a rock and a hard place

EQC between a rock and a hard place

Liquefaction in an Avondale street after the December 23, 2011, quakes.

EQC is arousing suspicion again with its manoeuvring on the coming payouts for flood and liquefaction land damage. But is it just doing the right thing in a somewhat impossible situation? JOHN McCRONE reports.

So it was an "Oh, shoot!" kind of moment for you then? A few sheepish grins break out around the table. Officially they can't say that. But yes, pretty clearly it was.

The Earthquake Commission (EQC) has been taking a fair old battering for how it has been handling the Christchurch recovery. And it is no surprise that people are already suspicious about how it will deal with the next phase of its land damage payments.

EQC has now paid out on much of the city's visible land damage, what it calls the category 1 to 7 claims which are to do with mending cracks in lawns or digging out silt from under floorboards.

And while some of the compensation amounts have seemed derisory - cheques for $10, the price of a few shovels of fill, which some home owners have posted back or framed to hang in the toilet - when spread across the whole of greater Christchurch, it is still costing EQC around $1 billion.

But this year EQC needs to sort out its category 8 and 9 claims, or what it calls the hidden land damage in the form of increased liquefaction vulnerability (ILV) and increased flooding vulnerability (IFV).

It has already mailed out notices to some 14,000 home owners advising them they may qualify. The wash-up is expected to be around 6000 with liquefaction risk, 6000 with flood risk, a further 2000 with both. And the sums involved could be generally more serious.

EQC is keeping the figures close to its chest but a 2014 budgeting document flushed out under the Official Information Act suggests well over half a billion dollars has been set aside for these land settlements. Divided up, the average would be $36,000 a property.

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Land settlements put EQC between a rock and a hard place