The government's hit pause on strict new building regulations over earthquake strengthening, and even its usual opponents are happy with the move

Earthquake building strengthening rules could change, perhaps bringing some relief for those facing huge bills to upgrade their homes

There's relief for building owners bending under the weight of earthquake strengthening rules - and costs - that came into force seven years ago.

Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk has announced a scheduled 2027 review of the earthquake-prone building regulations will now start this year. Owners will also get an extra four years to get these buildings up to code.

Today on The Detail we look at how rules that looked sensible in the wake of the two massive shakes in Christchurch and Kaikōura, turned toxic when councils and building owners found out how much it would cost to meet the new laws.

Masterton-based reporter for The Post Piers Fuller has spent several years covering these issues. He explains the law changes had goals of making buildings safer and saving lives.

"The brought clarity around identifying earthquake-prone buildings, about the council's obligations as to how they would get the owners to enforce their responsibilities around remediating those buildings, and also gave them timeframes to work to," he says.

"The timeframes were set on the risk levels that different parts of the country had. If you were in high risk areas, which does cover a lot of the country, you had effectively half the time that you may have in a low risk area."

High-risk areas include the east of the North Island, the east of the South Island down to mid-Canterbury and also most of the West Coast. The medium-risk zones are through the middle of the North Island and through parts of Canterbury and Otago. Low-risk areas include coastal Otago, Auckland and Northland.

The changes also brought in a national register of earthquake buildings. Many of those, which need to be demolished or renovated, are in the capital.

"It's a tsunami of deadlines that are coming up over the next three or four years - by the end of 2027 there's going to be almost 300 buildings in Wellington that have to be dealt with," Fuller says.

"Most of them take a high level of intervention. With 300 buildings with many owners quite reticent to do the work then you can imagine the obligation on a council to get those done and potential lawsuits - it's going to be really high."

There are, of course, issues further afield.

Masterton people rally to save their town hall…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details