Building Owners and the Building Act

 

As the title suggests, this is about building owner’s responsibilities under the New Zealand Building Act which sets out building owner’s responsibilities and various fines building owners can face.  No one likes paying fines especially when we were not aware of any requirements placed on us.  Here I try to help home owners understand what their liabilities are so they can avoid penalties which can sometimes come out of the blue.

As an Architectural Designer I am aware of these requirements but I’m not a trained lawyer.  Building owners should take this information I have provided as a prompt only and do there own research, starting with their local Council.

The Building Act 

The purpose of the Building Act is to regulate building work and set out performance standards.  It aims to ensure building can be:

• Used safely.
• Contribute to occupants well being.
• Promote safety in the event of fire.
• Create sustainable development.

The Building Code

The New Zealand Building Code (NZBC)  is a performance based code and made up of around 30 sections plus some New Zealand Standards are also  considered to be included as these sections.

In addition to the NZBC, there are many New Zealand building standards NZS 3604 Timber Framed Buildings, being the most recognized.

All building work has to comply with these codes and standards even building work contained in schedule 1 of the New Zealand Building Act (NZBA) which is exempt from requiring a building consent.  A lot of building owners are jumping at the chance to use schedule 1, but they need to do there homework.  I was recently involved in an addition which had a deck that clearly came under schedule 1.  On further investigation the placement of the deck was on top of a 300mm diameter storm water pipe as well as being in an overland flow path.  There was no way that this deck could be built under schedule 1 and not violate other requirements.  The footings that fell within a metre of the pipe had to be engineered and ended up 3.0 metres deep (a metre deeper than the drain as per Council requirements).  Where it was not possible to avoid the drain, no less than 7 beams had to be engineered to cantilever over the pipe.  On top of this Council insisted the drain be located and videoed internally and a consent obtained from Watercare.  Plus Council drainage Engineers wanted a report on the effects of a potential flood.  If it wasn’t for Ait’s diligence this deck would have been illegal and at worst could have punctured the drain during the build.  There are many traps with schedule 1 and the fact that town planning rules still have to be adhered to is a major trap that could make your schedule 1 building work illegal.

Owner’s Responsibilities

The NZBA clearly sets out the building owners responsibilities and you may be surprised.  Following is a list of requirements I am aware of:

• Obtain a building consent.  This is not the roll of the Builder or the Designer although they may take on this roll for the owner.  Unfortunately if the builder or the Designer or anyone else for that matter fails to obtain the building consent for the work that is done it is the owner’s responsibility and he or she is liable for any ramifications (at least initially from Council).
• Obtain Code Compliance Certificate (CCC).  Again this can be done by anyone but is the building owner who is responsible to see that it has actually been obtained.
• Notify Council of the names and license numbers of LBP’s working on their project.  Make sure who ever is doing this work for you has actually done this.
• Comply with conditions of a Compliance Certificate.  This is normally for commercial property.
• Ensure systems such as fire alarms under the certificate are working properly and that the certificate is available for inspection by Council, again this is for commercial buildings normally.
• The building owner must supply a building warrant of fitness to Council, again commercial use normally.
• The building owner must give Council compliance reports on compliance schedules, commercial normally.
• Owners must give Council notice of change of use.  Using a garage as accommodation would warrant notifying Council of a change of use.  Failure to do this can and has ended up with building owners taking hefty fines.
• Not alter the change of use of their building.  For instance from residential occupation to another type of occupation such as a boarding house for example.
• Not extend a building past it’s specified intended life.
• Finally owners’s must comply with the Resource Management Act.

It is highly recommended that any work you intend to undertake as a building owner or you allow someone else to undertake, you contact council and discuss openly and honestly with Council your intentions and don’t feel bad about requesting Council giving you there advise to you in writing.  I have had clients that have been given incorrect information from a Council help desk probably because the client didn’t explain to Council exactly the circumstances surrounding their situation.

Hopefully I have helped you as a home owner understand that building work is not all straight forward and that personally contacting the right people at their local Council could just save you from ending up in court or having to pay out for a Certificate of Acceptance or worse a fine.  I suggest building owners do their own due diligence by contacting their local Council or at least have a professional advise them before doing any schedule 1 building work.  Alternatively just get a building consent regardless.

Ross Newby Architectural Designer Design 3 LBP.

Email: ross.newby@ait.kiwi.nz