'Industrial-sized puffball of mould': Demolition call for abandoned Wellington home

Residents near a large, mouldy, abandoned home in Wellington have had enough of the rotting building - and are not convinced about the owner's promise to tear it down.

The 1980s-era home on Kabul Street in the leafy suburb of Khandallah has been decaying for years.

Paul Ash said it was bringing a strong smell to the street, and was causing spores to settle on his property.

He said it was attracting crime, having been burgled more than a dozen times, leaving neighbours feeling unsafe.

The owner of the home aknowledged it had become an eyesore, and had now confirmed demolition work was set to start in the coming weeks.

'Caution - health hazard'

Paul Ash had lived in his property on the street for 23 years and for the last five years the large home across the road had become rundown.

"It seems to have been abandoned and to now be in a state where it is not watertight, it is filled with mould, it's been burgled probably 15 to 20 times."

It had taken a toll on his household and his neighbours, Ash told RNZ.

"The burglaries and the safety issues have left us and others in the street feeling really unsafe as we have had actual encounters as they have been coming out of the house, including with our young grandchildren."

He claimed that mould spores from the home had been settling on his nearby parked car and had landed on his home.

"We've had to spend an awful lot of time cleaning in a way we've never had to over the first 20 years we were in our property as the house over the road has really collapsed into itself and become almost an industrial-sized puffball of mould spores."

Ash said it was the kind of impact that would not be expected from a neighbour.

"On a still day the smell of the mould basically permeates our entire garden. My wife is a keen gardener but hasn't really been able to get out into the garden for the last four to six months or so."

It had become such an issue for his household he had created a large sign on the footpath which read, "caution - health hazard".

He had written to the owner about the issues with the mouldy home but claimed that he had become unresponsive in recent months.

"He has told us many times over a number of years now that he is proposing to work on it since he abandoned it and in particular since problems became really bad in 2022."

RNZ got in touch with the building owner who confirmed he had received requests from Ash to get the property fixed.

He said that he had been on a trip overseas and was able to turn his mind back to the issue when he arrived in New Zealand early last month.

"Three weeks ago, tenders were sought for the demolition with tenders closing after 14 days.

"A tender was accepted and contracted with an expectation that demolition would begin about the 17th of September."

The owner said that he would contest much of what Ash had complained about but accepted the home had become an eyesore.

"The neighbours have been very patient over the years."

Ash said he would welcome the owner to deliver on that promise.

"Based on past commitments that haven't happened, we'll believe it when contractors actually commence work."

Wellington City Council told RNZ because the home was vacant and not an immediate risk to life it could not require the home's owner to knock it down.

Its senior health advisors had assessed it several times - with the latest being in June - and determined it was not safe to live in.

The advisors could not find evidence of mould on nearby properties caused by the abandoned home.

Police had advised the abandoned home's owner that it may pose a structural, health and safety risk, it attracted criminal activity and was an opportunity for squatters.

What do other neighbours say?

Ash was not the only resident that had a problem with the home.

John Handiside said that it had been deteriorated during the time he lived in the street.

"We talk about, you know, 'you don't want to walk past that house' to our grandchildren because a wizard may come out or a witch may drop out of the trees there.

"It sounds a wee bit funny, but it is something that really bothers us, it literally looks as if it will fall over."

Tina Handiside told RNZ it was a horrid situation, given the state of the home and the crime that it had attracted.

"I think it's appalling that it has gone on for so long, you know."

Fellow neighbour Lauren Calder said the house was an eyesore and that she had heard concerns about people having broken into the property.

"It certainly doesn't leave you with a feeling of real safety on the street with it in the state it's in."

Calder said the smell of the home particularly on a still day resembled that of washing that had been sitting in a pile for months wet.

"It's sort of that really stagnant musty, mouldy, mildew kind of smell."

She had a baby and said she would not to spend much time near the home with her in a pram.

"[It] just sort of feels like it is lingering in the air and it's not really very nice for the house opposite for sure."

Possible health effects

University of Otago senior research fellow Dr Caroline Halley last month completed a study on leaky homes which found people living in houses with clear signs of water damage or leaks had higher levels of lung inflammation.

Halley told RNZ it was possible mould could shed off the property and onto others.

"Particularly if they are sort of downwind from a property that's ... visibly rotting, it just that normally you would have a lot of dilution of the air."

She said that mould odour was normally observed in peoples' own homes and had been linked health effects like asthma.

"It is unusual to kind of be able to smell that from a neighbour's property, but I think it is possible that it could be.

"It has been strongly linked that kind of mould odour with some of those health affects, so it is possible it's an area of concern."

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