More than 4600 Otago homes may be susceptible to "leaky building syndrome", which is predicted to cost hundreds of millions of dollars in repairs nationwide.
Publicity surrounding the issue prompted a flurry of calls to the Dunedin City Council yesterday but the Otago Registered Master Builders Association said it had received no complaints.
The extent of the problem was exposed this week when an independent report, commissioned by the Building Industry Authority (BIA) was released.
Internal Affairs Minister George Hawkins said yesterday he had asked the Government's administration select committee to conduct an inquiry into the Weathertightness of Buildings report.
However, opposition MPs were angry the inquiry would not look at compensation or liability and said it would become a whitewash as the committee in question was dominated by Labour MPs.
The report was commissioned after the BIA received reports from several industry organisations of a high number of leaking and rotting houses, and a survey last year showed 60% of new houses in Auckland were leaking only a few years after construction.
The report said repairing leaky houses built in New Zealand during the past 10 years could cost up to $240 million.
Yesterday, the Building Research Association of New Zealand said about 8800 new homes had been built in Otago during the past decade and estimated more than 50% of those were finished in monolithic cladding, making them susceptible to the problem.
Some 5720 of the total number of new houses for Otago were built in the Queenstown-Lakes District, including Wanaka, with 65% of those estimated to be potential victims of the syndrome. Of the remaining 3080 built in the rest of Otago, 1232 had monolithic cladding.
Houses built on elevated or exposed sites, those with complex roof forms, buildings with balconies and decks that rely on timber beams for structural support and homes with safety barriers around balconies that are covered with monolithic cladding with handrails fixed to the top were also at risk of leaking.
The report said it was difficult for water to get out of monolithic cladding systems once it penetrated, which then could affect all the materials involved.
Dunedin City Council development services manager Elissa McElroy said the publicity surrounding the leaky building syndrome had prompted a flurry of calls to the council from people concerned their properties were affected by the problem.
"We would say that anyone who thinks they may have the leaky building syndrome should call . . . a building expert and get them to inspect the house then call us."
Two DCC staff members would attend a Local Government New Zealand meeting in Wellington on Monday to discuss the issue, she said.
However, Otago Registered Master Builders Association chief executive Chris Preston said it had not received any complaints about the syndrome.
He believed the bulk of the problem was in Auckland with multi-unit development.
"We have very little of that in Otago," he said.