Damp ceilings, cracked walls, bad plumbing and shoddy bricklaying are among the structural defects plaguing the owners of about 2500 low-cost houses across the Cape Peninsula.
Poor workmanship on the part of inexperienced building contractors has been blamed for the defects, the Local Government Research Centre reports in its latest South African Local Government Briefing
The centre says an investigation by the National Home Builder’s Registration Council (NHBRC) revealed widespread evidence of such defects.
According to the council’s executive director of technical services, Jeffrey Mahachi, most of the 2 473 houses inspected late last year — after numerous complaints from homeowners — had structural defects that, if not addressed soon, may pose a serious threat to the lives of thousands of low-income homeowners.
Houses in nine areas — including Guguletu, Manenberg, Mitchells Plain and Philippi — were checked individually, and it was found that 98% of them had defects.
Although most of the houses had only minor structural defects — which would not affect a home’s structural integrity — many of these “affect the habitability of these houses” and some would “end up being structural if not attended to in time”, the registration council reported.
Using a scale of 0% to 100%, with 100% for a house without defects, most of the houses scored between 65% and 70%. In one area, the average was 30%.
The council said it would cost about R20-million to repair homes with major defects and about R15-million for those with minor defects. The total of R35-million is nearly twice the amount spent to build them. This excludes R10-million that has already been spent by the Cape Town municipality in recent years on short-term repairs.
The low-income rental houses were built in 2000 by the Cape Town Community Housing Company (CTCHC), in which the City of Cape Town and the National Housing Finance Corporation (NHFC) were equal partners.
The CTCHC has appealed to the city council for a contribution to the R35-million repair bill, the research centre reports.
The centre’s head, Clive Keegan, says a report by the University of Cape Town found that the CTCHC had contravened building regulations. It was also recently reported that the municipality and the NHFC would spend R2,6-million fixing the structural problems.
In May last year, the council approved the appointment of a third social housing company, Communicare, to help it build 5,000 houses by 2008.
Meanwhile, serious defects have also been detected in virtually all of the 705 units completed six months ago as the first phase of the N2 Gateway housing project.
The N2 Gateway — the national flagship pilot project for the government’s comprehensive plan for the creation of sustainable human settlements — was supposed to have provided 22,000 houses by last June, but has so far completed only 705 units, which have proved unaffordable for the potential tenants whom they are meant to house.
The controversy-ridden project has also overrun its initial budget by an estimated R135-million, with units that were originally budgeted to cost R80,000 eventually costing more than R130,000, the centre reports. — I-Net Bridge
Poor workmanship on the part of inexperienced building contractors has been blamed for the defects, the Local Government Research Centre reports in its latest South African Local Government Briefing
The centre says an investigation by the National Home Builder’s Registration Council (NHBRC) revealed widespread evidence of such defects.
According to the council’s executive director of technical services, Jeffrey Mahachi, most of the 2 473 houses inspected late last year — after numerous complaints from homeowners — had structural defects that, if not addressed soon, may pose a serious threat to the lives of thousands of low-income homeowners.
Houses in nine areas — including Guguletu, Manenberg, Mitchells Plain and Philippi — were checked individually, and it was found that 98% of them had defects.
Although most of the houses had only minor structural defects — which would not affect a home’s structural integrity — many of these “affect the habitability of these houses” and some would “end up being structural if not attended to in time”, the registration council reported.
Using a scale of 0% to 100%, with 100% for a house without defects, most of the houses scored between 65% and 70%. In one area, the average was 30%.
The council said it would cost about R20-million to repair homes with major defects and about R15-million for those with minor defects. The total of R35-million is nearly twice the amount spent to build them. This excludes R10-million that has already been spent by the Cape Town municipality in recent years on short-term repairs.
The low-income rental houses were built in 2000 by the Cape Town Community Housing Company (CTCHC), in which the City of Cape Town and the National Housing Finance Corporation (NHFC) were equal partners.
The CTCHC has appealed to the city council for a contribution to the R35-million repair bill, the research centre reports.
The centre’s head, Clive Keegan, says a report by the University of Cape Town found that the CTCHC had contravened building regulations. It was also recently reported that the municipality and the NHFC would spend R2,6-million fixing the structural problems.
In May last year, the council approved the appointment of a third social housing company, Communicare, to help it build 5,000 houses by 2008.
Meanwhile, serious defects have also been detected in virtually all of the 705 units completed six months ago as the first phase of the N2 Gateway housing project.
The N2 Gateway — the national flagship pilot project for the government’s comprehensive plan for the creation of sustainable human settlements — was supposed to have provided 22,000 houses by last June, but has so far completed only 705 units, which have proved unaffordable for the potential tenants whom they are meant to house.
The controversy-ridden project has also overrun its initial budget by an estimated R135-million, with units that were originally budgeted to cost R80,000 eventually costing more than R130,000, the centre reports. — I-Net Bridge
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