A Christchurch homeowner whose one of just 16 in the region whose land won’t be fixed by the Earthquake Commission says his life is still up in the air.

Greg and his family moved out of their River Road home after the September 4 quake basically split his house and land in two. He and his two closest neighbours are among the 16 properties in the area deemed to expensive to fix. Instead they’ll be paid out for their land by EQC.

Greg is philosophical about the future but says their Avonside property is more than just a house to his family, and he’s been frustrated that a land valuation pack from the Earthquake Commission has failed to materialise. “That’s having no evidence yet about what the vaulation is, that’s having no point of reference from an independent valuer, there’s a whole load of stuff that needs to be sorted out” he told Newstalk ZB.

He says they won’t walk away from the river front land until they absolutely have to.

Earthquake Commission Chief executive, Ian Simpson, says he doesn’t want to comment on individual cases but is reminding quake-affected homeowners they’re lucky to get land cover at all. He says if property owners don’t recover the land’s full value, at least they are getting something.