Northland businesses brace for price increases with surcharge ban
That's what some Northland retailers and business leaders believe after the recent Government announcement that will see surcharges on in-store card payments banned from next May.
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1News
3 hours ago
- 1News
Govt to rewrite liability provisions in building consents reform
New changes to speed up a "sluggish" consenting system means councils will no longer be left "footing the bill" for major building defects, the Building Minister says. The "joint and several liability" framework for managing building defects will be scrapped in what ministers call the biggest reform to the consenting system in "decades". Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk officially revealed two "major" changes alongside Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at today's post-Cabinet media conference. Penk said the overhaul would "ease the cost burden on ratepayers for defective building work" and be the most significant since the Building Act came into force in 2004. As part of the changes, he said the Government was taking aim at "stalling" productivity in the building sector through cutting red tape and enabling more cost efficiencies. ADVERTISEMENT Row of designed and furnished townhouses next to a road in Auckland. (Source: "[The] sluggish consenting system is delaying projects and driving up costs, making the average standalone house here 50% more expensive to build than in Australia. "We must eliminate system blockages to speed up the delivery of new homes and infrastructure," the Building and Construction Minister said. What's happening with building defects and consents? Introducing a bill to Parliament early next year, the Government intends to replace the existing "joint and several liability" framework with "proportionate liability," where "each party will only be responsible for the share of work they carried out." "It's time to put the responsibility where it belongs," Penk said, saying the change would "ease the cost burden on ratepayers for defective building work." "Right now, councils are hesitant to sign off on building consents and inspections because they could be held liable for all defects, leaving ratepayers to foot the bill. ADVERTISEMENT Window ledge crack (file image). (Source: "This often happens when one of the parties responsible cannot pay for repairs, for example, if a business goes bust. "Currently, building owners can claim full compensation from any responsible party — and it's often councils, with the deepest pockets and no option to walk away, that end up paying out. "The risk-aversion this creates [from council building consent authorities] leads to frustrating delays and extra cost for builders and homeowners." Penk said this wouldn't mean councils were entirely off the hook as they will still "carry the same share of responsibility they do now for tasks like processing consent applications, carrying out inspections, and issuing code compliance certificates." Govt 'exploring' protections for building owners Penk asserted that building owners would "be protected if things go wrong," and that the Government was "exploring options such as requiring professional indemnity insurance and home warranties, similar to arrangements in Australia." ADVERTISEMENT The Government gave examples of home warranties that already exist here, like the Certified Builders' Halo Guarantee and the Master Builders' 10-Year Guarantee. It said the new regime was similar to what some Australian states had used since the 1990s. Chris Penk (Source: 1News) Penk also announced today that it would allow councils to voluntarily consolidate their building consent authority functions with each other. "It is ridiculous that builders, designers and homeowners must navigate 66 different interpretations of the Building Code, because of the number of council building consent authorities across the country," Penk said. "Builders can be rejected on paperwork that would be accepted by a neighbouring authority simply because each building consent authority applies the rules differently. "Many councils have asked for this and I expect they will seize the opportunity to consolidate, share resources like building inspectors and IT systems, and pass the savings on to ratepayers." Today's changes are part of a broader reform programme for building and consents, which the Government argues will make it easier and more affordable to build. ADVERTISEMENT Building Consent Approvals is promising faster approvals for 'low-risk' house-building projects. (Source: 1News) Earlier this month, Penk announced homeowners would soon be able to build small structures like garden sheds, sleepouts and garages closer to their property boundaries without requiring building consent. Cabinet agreed to remove the minimum distance required between single-storey buildings under 10sqm and a property boundary or other residential building, and reduce it to one metre for buildings between 10 and 30 square metres. Other recent changes included exempting "granny flats" from consenting rules, allowing trusted building companies to build without consents, and enabling approved plumbers and drainlayers to self-certify their own work. 'Positive step': Industry reacts to shake-up Master Builders chief executive Ankit Sharma said the reforms represented a "positive step" towards a more consistent, efficient and balanced system. "Builders have long faced duplication, delays, and inconsistent decisions across more than 60 different building consent authorities. The proposal to consolidate building consent authorities and introduce common data standards has the potential to reduce compliance costs, improve consistency across regions, and speed up approvals. These are practical solutions that, if implemented well, could drive meaningful productivity gains for the sector." ADVERTISEMENT Addressing liability settings was just as important, he said. "The current joint-and-several system has meant councils carry a disproportionate share of risk, which has made them overly cautious and slowed down consenting. Moving to proportionate liability has the potential to create a fairer and more balanced system, provided it is paired with strong consumer protections such as home warranties and appropriate practitioner insurance." The group representing councils, Local Government New Zealand, also welcomed the changes. President Sam Broughton said the Government's proposals would help speed up building consenting on new homes. "We strongly believe it will have an instant and positive impact on housing growth; councils will be in a better position to consent more efficiently, with less legal risk borne by local government — and therefore less risk for ratepayers."
NZ Herald
5 hours ago
- NZ Herald
Watch: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Minister Chris Penk announce construction changes
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon will front a post-Cabinet press conference with Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk to discuss sweeping changes to the Building Act. The Government signalled in late 2024 it was investigating options for major reform to make it easier and cheaper to build. Penk confirmed to
RNZ News
12 hours ago
- RNZ News
Chrisopher Luxon says he's 'focused 100%' on economy, not passports
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon speaking at Botany Downs Secondary College with Education Minister Erica Stanford. Photo: Calvin Samuel / RNZ Prime Minister Christopher Luxon denies the government has lost its focus, as calls intensify for the government to take action to help pull Auckland out of its economic slump. Earlier this month Auckland Business Chamber boss Simon Bridges called on the government to do more to stimulate the economy in the supercity. The latest Stats NZ data showed Auckland's 6.1 percent unemployment rate for the June 2025 quarter was the worst of all regions, ahead of the national rate of 5.2 percent. An article in the the Sunday Star-Times at the weekend said "many business leaders and political insiders, including those from traditional centre-right bases of support for National, are beginning to doubt whether" Luxon's coalition has an economic plan. Heart of the City boss Viv Beck said "Rome is burning for some of our small businesses", and Newmarket Business Association head Mark Knoff-Thomas said it was "ludicrous" the government was spending its time reordering words on passport covers instead of focusing on the economy. Mayor Wayne Brown wants a bed night levy , which the government is not keen on. "They'll cave in. They want to be elected…. They'll cave in on this, mate. This is a third of New Zealand. This is the city that decides who's the government." Luxon told RNZ's Morning Report the government was "not focused on passport changes" but would not be implementing a bed tax. "We're actually focused 100 percent on actually growing this economy … We inherited the big recession. We've had a massive post-Covid hangover," he said. We've had a lot of international challenges with respect to tariffs, and what that's done for sentiment and confidence, but I just say to you, we're also seeing a recovery in New Zealand." Luxon said South Island primary industries were "growing strongly" but "we know we've got work to do in our cities". He pointed to the government's fast-track scheme for big projects, capital investment write-offs for small businesses and making it easier to get things built. "It's really tough in Auckland and also in Wellington, you know? If you're in Christchurch, it's different, as I said before, but, you know, there's no doubt about it," Luxon said "We're open to continuing to look at what more we can do. We're pretty dynamic and agile. We keep adjusting and doing things to adjust to the circumstances that we're in." One recent poll saw Labour surge ahead of National, and Luxon neck-and-neck with Labour's Chris Hipkins as preferred prime minister. Another had National and Labour in a statistical, ditto for Luxon and Hipkins, with just 1 percentage point separating the parties and leaders. When Bridges led the National Party, it regularly polled in the 40s. He was rolled as leader in 2020 after a collapse in the party's support as Covid-19 spread the world. Luxon said he would "absolutely" be leading National into the 2026 election. "For me it's actually staying focused on what New Zealanders care about and that is actually us fixing this economy. "I appreciate it's been difficult, you know, we've had a very difficult, you know, a poor inheritance, but, you know, our job is to fix it for New Zealanders and that's what we're going to do every day." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
