Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull has organised a meeting with senior Dunedin City Council staff and the owners of a $550,000 allegedly leaky home, to be held later today.
The meeting was arranged by Mr Cull after the couple - Michael Beazley and Deborah Wai Kapohe - approached him directly to express concern at the way council staff had dealt with their complaints.
The couple have been invited to the mayor's office at 3pm today, with media and lawyers excluded, and Mr Cull will attend with staff including city environment general manager Tony Avery and chief building control officer Neil McLeod.
The council invitation also suggested the parties could issue a joint statement following the meeting, Ms Wai Kapohe said yesterday.
The couple have complained the council erred in signing off a code of compliance certificate for their house at 36 Leithton Close, Glenleith, despite many apparent flaws found in the home's design and construction.
The couple bought the home in November after checking it had a certificate, but discovered the flaws soon after moving in.
They have since lodged a claim with the Weathertight Homes Resolution Service (WHRS), but have also threatened the council with court action seeking a "substantial" six-figure settlement to cover their costs.
They wrote to the council seeking answers to a series of questions, but received a letter in response refusing to discuss their concerns.
Council staff have declined to comment when approached by the ODT, and Mr Avery said earlier this week any council response to the allegations would come only through the WHRS formal process.
Yesterday, he clarified that related only to formal proceedings, and did not include today's meeting.
Mr Cull said he did not expect a solution to be agreed at today's meeting, but hoped for a "meeting of minds" about how best to proceed.
"Until now it's been a lot of accusations and claims and forwarding of information in the media, but no engagement. It would be productive to move forward and agree on some way of engaging so we can resolve the issues.
"[The] council has said all along that if we have responsibilities, or we are found to have liabilities, we will meet them. It's a matter of how you arrive at what those are."
Ms Wai Kapohe said the council's invitation to attend today's meeting was "promising".
She did not know what staff or Mr Cull planned to raise, but she would ask the council to consider buying their home to allow them to relocate.
