The Dunedin City Council has a register of 2998 pre-1976 buildings around Dunedin, of which 72 are already ''likely/definitely'' at risk and 606 are above the minium 35% building code and are not at risk, with the remaining 2320 yet to be assessed.
Those 2320 have until the end of the year to provide assessments, by DCC policy requirements, or alternatively to be assessed later by the DCC.
Dunedin has been redesignated by Building and Housing Minister Dr Nick Smith as now being in a low-risk earthquake area.
That means instead of pre-1976 buildings being assessed within five years and fixed in 15 years, the timeframe is pushed out to 15 years for assessment, and they must be strengthened within 35 years.
DCC leader urban design Glen Hazelton said when contacted he welcomed Dr Smith's decision, which should prompt a ''large number'' of local building owners to resume proposed earthquake-strengthening projects.
''There's a backlog of a huge number of people waiting to get engineers reports, assessments and details. They can now get on with the work,'' he said.
Dr Hazelton was asked if Dr Smith's rule changes did not play into the hands of landlords reluctant to pay for expensive upgrades of their ageing buildings; in allowing them 35 years or more to act on assessments, which could be put off for up to 15 years.
''Tenants are going to want over the minimum [35% building code] and insurance companies have assessment needs. Yes, if they want tenants they will have to move,'' he said of the building owners.
However, he conceded there were likely to be ''a few'' building owners who would take the ''do-nothing'' option.
Dr Hazelton, citing an example in Dunedin's warehouse precinct, is expecting some older building owners to opt for a DCC assessment instead of paying for one, on the expectations it will be prove to be an earthquake risk, but they will agree to repairs, some time in the decades ahead.
''There are a lot more, from feedback from engineers, who [already] have reports, but they have not been processed to us [DCC],'' Dr Hazelton said.
He believed they did not want the reports ''in the public realm'', where they could then be searched by the public and media.
There was not a list of specific buildings in Dunedin that the DCC wanted to target for inspection, Dr Hazelton said.
On the question of public safety, Dr Hazelton highlighted that the minimum building code of 35% had not changed, and nor had the requirement that older buildings requiring ''change of use'' status from industrial to commercial or industrial to residential automatically went from a minimum 35% up to 67%.
Dr Smith's changes were still at ''an early stage'' and could take 18 to 24 months to become legislation, and for some the ''devil lay in the detail'', Dr Hazelton said.
