A leaky home is basically a house where water has penetrated the shell, which is the shielding layer, on the outer walls of a house and then sticks behind the wall.

The internal casing of the house, walling and floor then becomes damp for an extended period of time, causing yeast to breed and the wood to decompose.

Homes with colossal shell, a kind of cladding that gives the outer shell of a concrete look, masonry or plaster finish, have a high peril of being leaky homes.

This type of cladding was popular in the 80s and 90s with the rise of Mediterranean-style housing and in some cases allowed the ingress of water through the cladding.

It is not that all homes are weather-tight, however without proper water management structure i. e. drainage, or sewerage, airing and/or a cavity; water can tarp in one place causing the number of issues at present faced by landlords of leaky houses.

A PricewaterhouseCoopers account specially made in the previous year estimates between 22,000 and 89,000 houses in New Zealand that are affected.

A number of political factors were responsible towards New Zealand's leaky home account, although the rigid monetary environment of the 1990s as well played a huge role with builders and homeowners that searched for ways to slash costs.