T&T state houses' warranties shorter than the appliances' within them?

February 4, 2010 by Edmund Gall

According to reports, the new homes built by Housing Development Corporation (HDC - the organisation responsible for the building and distribution of state housing to persons in need) in Harmony Hall, Gasparillo, are already cracked, even before the home-owners have moved in. Rusty kitchen sinks and incomplete staircases were found in the homes, and unfinished landscaping with bushes running up the sides of the buildings.

How do the creatures - I hesitate to call them human - who do this to people sleep at night?

To the state representatives responsible for delivery of such housing, you may not have done such poor work directly, but if you fail to get it repaired and penalise the contractors who did, then you will be equally guilty. It's despicable.

In response, Housing Minister Tina Gronlund-Nunez, stated that the new tenants have only six months to identify all problems they had with HDC homes. Why? For insurance purposes, buildings are ascribed a life of several decades. If over the course of these years a fault develops that can be attributed to poor workmanship by the builders, then they should be liable for it. Is she saying that a state house has a shorter warranty - six months - than the appliances that their tenants would buy? Surely not!

I tried to find details about the HDC houses' warranties on their website but came up short. Par for the course for a government that's still in the very early stages of using the Internet to share information. If anyone knows where I can find such details, let me know. However, if the warranty is longer than six months, why would the Minister make such an outrageous comment as above?

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