‘Defective’ Tottotville houses taking its toll on homeowners

Sandra (not her real name) has come to dread the rainy season. A homeowner of a unit in Tottotville, she said the defective construction of her home is taking its toll on her family, who has to put in much effort just to prevent water from flooding their home whenever it rains.

“It affects us so much because we would get worried to come home when it’s raining hard; we’re worried that the house would be flooded,” she said. “When it rains hard, water comes in and leaks inside the house.”

It also creates bubbles on the paint that they compress “so water would drain out instead of ballooning up and busting. We try to deal with it as best we can.”

Despite this, she still feels luckier than other homeowners, who are in “worse” situations.

“We’re one of lucky ones because it doesn’t leak in middle of the house. I know of some owners where water leaks into their master bedroom, and its coming right out of the concrete roof.”

Another source, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, claimed that Telesource CNMI Inc., which was awarded the contract to build the housing units in Tottotville, reportedly subcontracted the project to groups, who, in turn, allegedly purchased “cheap” materials to construct the units.

The Saipan Tribune contacted Telesource for comment on Thursday and Friday but was told that its president was off island and that the person who could comment on the situation was unavailable.

The construction of the homes were completed less than five years ago, yet the government is now facing complaints by several homeowners of leaks, caused by defective construction.

Documents earlier obtained by the Saipan Tribune indicated that homeowners complained of water leaks from ceilings, window sills, and exterior doors; water-damaged rear service doors due to lack of roof protection; rattling water pipe sounds on dry wall locations; peeling off paint on concrete ceilings; and damaged roof tiles.

The interviewed homeowner, who moved into her current home in September 2002, also complained of poor structural design, citing that during heavy rains, her family would have to dig trenches to prevent water from overflowing into their home.

“We have to make a lot of trenches to make sure water does not come into the house, but water still comes in when the rain hits the door. The door and even the windows are rotting because there is no overhang.”

“It’s very frustrating. There’s some warranty that are still active, and they [Northern Marianas Housing Corp.] are not calling us if they’re going to fix it or when they’re going to fix it,” she added.

She indicated that another problem is the roofing tiles, which are reportedly not installed properly as well, as well as fixtures in the bathroom.

“It’s not cheap. All are very costly to repair because these are not available on the island,” she said. “A lot of people hire someone to repair the defects, and it’s costing hundreds of dollars. It’s lucky that my husband is a handy man and would patch things.”

She said her family has approached the Northern Marianas Housing Corp. regarding the issue but “our calls were ignored, and that’s when we formed the homeowners association for Tottotville.”

“Some people have more problems, some have less. We have much less [problems] only because of my handy husband, who does a lot of patch work to prevent things from getting worse, but eventually, all will wear off and when it does, we have to replace. We got to pay big money to get it replaced.”

When asked for comments, Commonwealth Development Authority executive director Mary Lou S. Ada said she would supply a copy of the response to SSFM International-Saipan vice president Ralph Hayashi, who brought the CDA’s attention to the issue.

In a letter to Ada, Hayashi explained that interviews with homeowners revealed that complaints have been raised with the NMHC but that “no one from NMHC visited the homes to review the complaints.”

“One homeowner told that she was instructed by NMHC personnel to go see SSFM, even though she told the NMHC person that she should not have do so (sic),” said Hayashi.

He further said that one homeowner indicated that there appears to be “favoritism being extended by your staff.”

“The homeowner indicated NMHC will do some things for some homeowners and not for others,” he said.

Hayashi said that most of the items cited by homeowners were reported perhaps as far back as two or three years ago.

As far as SSFM is concerned, he said, it has provided recommendations on the reported deficiencies and has communicated with NMHC on the issue.

“We urge you to take care of these matters by either the original contractor or NMHC,” said Hayashi.

There are about 45 homeowners currently living in Tottotville, the first subdivision built by the Northern Marianas Housing Corp. in 2000 primarily for low- to moderate-income families. The units were awarded through a lottery conducted by NMHC a few years back.