Tiny house customers' frustrations mount

Vanessa Parkinson first approached Ready Homes in October of 2021 to have a container home built on her property.

There she met director Warren Sinclair. After visiting her property, he said the container build was not possible, but sold her on a tiny home through another business he had, NZ Modular Homes.

At the time Parkinson ordered two cabins, one to be built to completion and one to shell stage, to be delivered about 8 to 12 weeks later.

Despite asking to, she said she never signed a contract.

At first things seemed to be full steam ahead.

He said that he was ordering aluminium joinery, Parkinson told RNZ. "He said to me he was ordering, going down and getting my posts from Auckland - for the piles."

But then the excuses and delays started.

Parkinson said little things just started to get dragged out and dragged out. In the meantime, Parkinson said she paid $40,000 in progress payments.

After months of little work being done on her cabins and difficulties getting answers from the company, and excuses, in April of 2022 Parkinson said she went to look at her cabins.

"There was no aluminium joinery." she said. "[They] basically just had bits of building paper and stuff on them."

Parkinson said she was upset. She had been living in a bus and had intended to live in the cabins in the approaching winter.

Parkinson said Sinclair offered her a refund. But that did not eventuate.

Parkinson said while she was waiting for her refund, she saw her cabins listed for sale on the NZ Modular Home Facebook page, as concepts.

RNZ had sighted screenshots of the post that Parkinson took.

Parkinson said she went back to Sinclair about the refund.

"I said so what was your plan? To sell my cabins as a concept to other people so you could use their deposit money to then what pay me?"

According to Parkinson, Sinclair claimed she did not know what she was talking about.

But in the meantime she was enduring winter in her bus with a broken diesel heater; her money tied up in her cabins and legal fees.

"I was cold," Parkinson said.

"I had a hot water bottle for warmth and turning on the engine [of] the bus occasionally for a bit of heating," she said.

Fed up, Parkinson uplifted her cabins from the site in August.

But the process was hostile until the end.

She claimed Sinclair tried to ban her from entering the site where her cabin was without his prior permission and coerced her into signing an agreement that her uplifting the cabins would be her last dealing with the company.

She said she answered with "I'm only agreeing to this because I had no other choice."

"So, I was basically signing all my rights away by going and picking up my cabins as they were."

Finishing her cabins had come at a huge cost.

Parkinson said she had to change a lot of her plans because she could not afford the additional material costs.

It had also taken an emotional toll.

Parkinson had planned to have a retreat on her off-grid property, and while she still hoped to do so, she said the cabin ordeal had taken the shine off her dream.

Not the only one

Another couple who wished not to be named ordered a tiny home from NZ Modular Homes in December of 2021.

RNZ has seen the contract.

It was expected to be delivered about 14 weeks later.

The couple said they made a deposit on their $90,000 home, and two follow-up payments, which resulted in most of the sum being paid.

But like Parkinson, they said they then experienced months of excuses, with little to no progress on their home.

In November of 2022 the couple said they decided to uplift their home.

It was also unfinished.

The list was numerous; joinery, bathroom fittings, a log burner and extensive bookshelves among them. All things which the couple said, "were supposedly paid for."

The joinery, they said, had even been paid for twice.

The couple said they had also not been able to put their home on the site they purchased, as it is too heavy.

They said that was despite assurances from NZ Modular Homes that the home could be put on the site.

The couple had also purchased and installed a grey water system, which they are now unsure if they will ever be able to use.

They said their house buying experience had taken an emotional toll as well: "It put a huge strain on our relationship."

The couple had considered taking legal action against NZ Modular Homes. But they said their lawyers had advised them legal action against Modular Homes would be costly - and it was unlikely they would get money back if they won.

Lawyers involved

Meanwhile, Pete Ibbertson had his lawyers involved from the start.

He and his partner first approached NZ Modular Homes in April of 2021 to build a container home. They put down a deposit of nearly $27,000.

RNZ has seen Ibbertson's contract.

Ibbertson said they initially met with director Warren Sinclair.

After a delay getting some initial reports done, Ibbertson said Kenneth Sinclair - who Ibbertson said was Warren Sinclair's father - rang them wanting to change their build.

Ibbertson said he and his partner agreed verbally to the change but wanted to get a variation to the contact. He said after that NZ Modular Homes went silent.

"It just became like crickets every time we tried to contact them."

Ibbertson said the events which dragged on between April 2021 and August 2022 were very stressful for the couple.

He said they lived in a tent, then moved into a tiny home, meanwhile not knowing if they would get a house on the site or not.

Scared by the process and having to start again, Ibbertson said they have now decided to build "a normal home" instead.

Despite having lawyers involved, they also had not recovered their deposit.

"We can't afford to keep spending money to try and get that back," Ibbertson said.

No recourse for buyers

Barrister Julian Long said with small claims the cost often outweighed the claim and there was little recourse for buyers.

"Our court system isn't as good as it should be to help people deal with small value but complicated claims," he said.

But he said the system is set to change.

For those making claims, Long said lawyers would also often consider the solvency of a company.

"It's not an uncommon thing for people not knowing about the assets of the company to issue proceedings against the company and then find out lots of other people are issuing proceedings against the company."

Long said in those situations, many times a liquidator was appointed.

No comment

NZ Modular Homes were approached for comment.

Director and shareholder Warren Sinclair told RNZ he had no comment as the issues were likely to be the subject of litigation.

NZ Modular Homes recently removed its website and Facebook page.

Not the only business

Warren Sinclair is also listed as the current director or shareholder of seven other companies on the Companies Register.

Two of those companies (one being Ready Homes) are in liquidation, a third is in receivership.

NZ Modular Homes is not the only tiny house company that had been reported for not following through on their tiny promise.

New Zealand Tiny Homes and Podular Housing Systems Ltd had both also hit the headlines after going into liquidation.

Lack of regulation

Builder Max Dorking said tiny homes often fell into a grey area for the construction industry when it came to regulation

"I think the fact that it's such an unregulated industry leaves a lot of opportunity open for people to take advantage of clients in their good faith."

He said adjustments need to be made to the building rules.

But he also advised buyers to do their due diligence.