One of Mount Maunganui's Twin Towers has a newly appointed High Court administrator in place to ensure direct attention is paid to fixing long term leaking and structural issues this summer.

Justice Paul Heath announced Quay Property Management's David Shea's appointment after hearing about the building‘s long term issues in the first floor balcony above the shops and cafes.

Shrink wrap around Tower One.

The trust that owns the ground floor shops took the issue to court saying the building's body corporate is dysfunctional and failed to act on long standing problems with water leaking into the shops, and rusting steel supports.

Justice Heath appointed David as administrator until February 2014, with a view to having the appointment reconsidered at that time.

David is expected to 'engage promptly in taking steps to ascertain whether any public safety issues exist”. He will also chair the extraordinary general meeting scheduled for January 24.

David was appointed after property owners expressed concern about imminent danger to members of the public who may be using the cafes or other shops at the ground floor level of Tower One.

They are concerned about the structural safety of the veranda area.

According to engineer's reports, the tower has been leaking for years, and fresh and salt water has poured into the ground floor shops during heavy rain, pouring through light fittings into shops and in one case tripping the breakers on a lighting circuit.

In his affidavits trustee for the shop owners Michael Boyce related how he was almost immediately made aware of serious leaks in the shops when he became trustee on April 2012.

Michael says there was no support from the building manager, so the trust hired Harrison Grierson to determine ownership of the balconies, and hired experts to determine the source of the leaks, and paid for the shrink wrap to try and slow the water leaking into the shops.

Michael's affidavit details the failings and claims alleged to have been made by the body corporate committee and building manager John Spooner during the course of the months leading up to the body corporate annual meeting on November 30 where the committee was voted out and John's contract terminated.

Justice Heath says because of the urgency with which the hearing was brought on, there was little time for body corporate chairman Wayne Kusabs, and John Spooner Property consultants to respond. He comments in his judgement that he deliberately refrained from commenting on the allegations because they have not had adequate opportunity to reply.

These include accusations made in open court on Monday that the former body corporate committee kept information on the state of the build from apartment owners, fired the engineer who presented the report on how to go about the repairs, and also bullied and intimidated elderly tower residents.

It is expected that David Shea will be making the engineers reports available to the Tauranga City Council, and organising inspections and possible urgent remedial works so the tenants can continue trading over the peak holiday season.

The reports give a rough estimate for the cost of repairs in the region of $1.6million.

David was in meetings this morning and unable to be contacted for comment.