A registered surveyor in Christchurch says the Earthquake Commission is providing misleading assessments of quake-damaged houses.
Adrian Cowie said the commission is employing unqualified surveyors to measure how level floors are - using inadequate measuring methods - and thousands of houses are being wrongly assessed.
Mr Cowie said the commission has set a floor level threshold of 50mm, meaning if a floor is more uneven than that, it must fix the house's foundations.
He said its measurements are invariably less.
EQC spokesperson, Bruce Emson, says the commission's surveys are carried out by suitably qualified quantity surveyors and comply with all building and housing guidelines.