He goes on to say that the Wellington City Council has deemed our abode as an Earthquake Prone Building and must be vacated by May 30th. (I'm no engineering wizard but I could have told them that). He adds that his side of the building is safe and my side, the street side, would and I quote, "fall like a deck of cards in an earthquake".
Apparently The Adelaide has had since 2004 to fix this prob. Lord knows I'm still learning how things work here in NZ but I'm pretty sure that if your building is no longer inhabitable that should free you up to find another place, eh? Here is the letter, I've pulled out some highlights below...
"If a territorial authority is satisfied that a building is dangerous (check), earthquake prone (they said it folks) or insanitary ("IN"sanitary? I totally agree), the territorial authority may attach blah blah blah (this is my favorite part)...a notice that warns people not to approach the building. On 30 May 2011 a notice in conjunction with section blah blah blah will be placed on the building, this will require the building to be vacated". It goes on to include a couple of usages of one of my fav words "demolition". Unfortunately not in the context of derby-style.
I skip the rest of the way home and meet a long term tenant at the top of the stairs. I feel like making conversation..."So, I hear our building is condemned". "It's not condemned, he says". Hmmm...I disagree. In the near future a sign on our disintegrating building will state that it needs to be vacated...that is the living definition of what condemned means.
So, I've been in NZ two months and I'm on to flat numero tres. Good god, I can only imagine...
