A Tauranga property owner has revealed his shock after a house he bought almost a decade ago tested positive for methamphetamine contamination.

Now the owner, who does not wish to be identified, is warning others to check their insurance policies for methamphetamine contamination clauses.

The Tauranga house (not pictured) tested positive for methamphetamine contamination almost a decade after it was purchased. Photo: File.

He bought the property almost ten years ago, only to find out the property had been used as a meth lab.

'We bought the property intending to build a home on it,” he explains, 'but in between going unconditional and the takeover date I spotted a story in the paper saying there had been a drug bust at the house.

'When I saw the photo I said: ‘holy hell! I know where that is.' So I decided not to buy it until it had been certified and cleaned.”

Despite having industrial cleaners come in to clean and refurbish the property, several years on he has had to demolish the home to be able to sell the property.

When selling a property, owners must advise potential buyers if the property was used as a meth lab. And the Tauranga owner says he was always above board when it came to what happened in the house.

'I've told anyone who has gone in about the history shown them records of the cleaning and the results. I don't hide it from anyone, and when we had it on the market I told the agent the same. They must tell everyone.”

But when a potential buyer requested a test be done to make sure the property was contaminate free, he was shocked to discover that nearly a decade later, the test still revealed lingering contaminates in the house.

At first his insurance company was hesitant to help cover the cost of the tests and to decontaminate the house, but the owner says he had been upfront with his insurance company about the property and was therefore covered.

But he says many buyers would be unaware that most insurance companies had clauses to exclude homes contaminated by methamphetamine.

The owner says with new tests coming back positive, urgent action was required, such as stripping away walls, doors and ceilings – and still there was no guarantee it would remove the contaminants completely.

The solution was to demolish the house entirely.

According to Tauranga City Council, in the last two years there have been eight homes in the Western Bay and six homes in Tauranga that have been used to manufacture methamphetamine.

Between 2004 and 2012, Tauranga had 28 homes and Western Bay had 38 homes identified as being former meth labs.

In 2010, the Insurance & Ombudsman advised insurance companies to come clean on what was and wasn't covered and to provide clarity to landlords exposed to damage caused by tenants cooking methamphetamine.

The ombudsman ruled insurers needed to be clear what their intentions were when it came to meth contamination.

The ruling came after an unnamed insurer declined to pay for a landlord's property to be decontaminated because it considered the contamination 'gradual damage”.

Meth Solutions is an Auckland company which test homes for meth contamination, and director Miles Stratford set up the company because there was an issue with meth-affected properties in New Zealand.

'We have been responsible for sampling and reporting on literally thousands of properties around the country and we've helped hundreds of people resolve their problems,” says Miles.

Todd Sheppard of Hamilton-based Envirocheck told Seven Sharp that to get a home decontaminated can cost as much as $40,000.

An Insurance Council of New Zealand spokesperson says: 'If a homeowner is buying a home that has previously been a methamphetamine contaminated house, they should talk to their insurer prior to purchase.

'Generally speaking, cover will be provided if the homeowner has a clean bill of health for the property.

'This normally entails the local council making a note on the LIM report that states the property has been certified as testing below MOH guidelines.

'Insurers would want to be satisfied that there is no ongoing associated risks as cover is not provided for any pre-existing conditions.”