Latest news with #BuildingConsentAuthority
Otago Daily Times
a day ago
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Govt announces big changes for building consents
The coalition government is scrapping the building consents regime to ease the liability load on local councils. Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk said today the regime is "sluggish" and holding the building sector back. "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. "This often happens when one of the parties responsible cannot pay for repairs, for example, if a business goes bust." Penk said building owners could currently claim full compensation from any responsible party and it was often councils, with the deepest pockets and no ability to walk away, that ended up footing the bill. "The risk-aversion this creates leads to frustrating delays and extra cost for builders and homeowners." The government is scrapping the existing 'joint and several liability' regime in favour of a 'proportionate liability' one. Under the new model, each party will only be responsible for the share of work they carried out. "Building owners will be protected if things go wrong and we're exploring options such as requiring professional indemnity insurance and home warranties, similar to arrangements in Australia," Penk said. "In terms of looking across the Tasman, we can copy their homework on it to a large extent. We can learn from Australia's lessons in a positive way." The minister pointed to a 2015 case in Queenstown, where the the Oaks Shores body corporate filed a $160 million claim for weathertight defects as an example of system failure. "The developer had been placed into voluntary liquidation and was not sued, leaving ratepayers exposed to the entire claim. "If the case hadn't been settled privately, ratepayers could have faced rates increases of $300 a year for 30 years. It's time to put the responsibility where it belongs," Penk said. Councils get the green light to consolidate The government also announced it will allow councils to voluntarily consolidate their Building Consent Authority (BCAs) functions with each other. "It is ridiculous builders, designers and homeowners must navigate 67 different interpretations of the Building Code, because of the number of council BCAs across the country," Penk said. "Builders can be rejected on paperwork that would be accepted by a neighbouring authority simply because each BCA applies the rules differently." Many councils had asked for the ability to consolidate, he said. "I expect they will seize the opportunity to consolidate, share resources like building inspectors and IT systems, and pass the savings on to ratepayers. "We know the sector is behind us. New Zealand Certified Builders have said that this is the most significant change for the building industry in a generation, that it has been a long time coming and the change is welcomed by the industry." These changes would reduce the cost of building as the delays now were with building consents being issued, he said. "If you reduce that delay you get better productivity." 'Massive impact' Building Industry Federation chief executive Julien Leys told RNZ's Midday Report programme a shift to proportionate liability in the building consents system would have a "massive" impact on the sector. "We're going to see builders that will have to have mandatory insurance, there'll be auditing. That risk is going to be transferred. That means the councils will not be living under this fear of litigation and ultimately that's going to enable much faster, more efficient processing of consents." Leys supported the move to open up consolidation for the country's BCAs. "I think the move is going to be to say, look we've got 67 Building Consent Authorities in the country - far too many - and we're seeing far too much inconsistency between those councils. "Let's look at the options: we can either get those councils to consolidate, bring their resources together, we could have one big overarching national point of contact. "I think the drive is to have consistency and reduce time. One of the options was to ensure we actually have 80 percent of consenting done in three days. It's going to speed up the whole process and bring down cost." The building sector would welcome any changes that made it easier and cheaper to build, Leys said. "It has certainly been a tough period that's highlighted the fact that we need efficiencies in the sector. It's been 21 years since we've had any major reforms of the code as well so it's timely. "Anything where we can address cost and delays is welcome. I say bring it on." High eligibility standards, mandatory insurance and ongoing auditing and bigger fines for non-compliance would ensure the changes didn't lead to another leaky homes crisis, he said.
Otago Daily Times
a day ago
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Major shake-up of building consents
The coalition government is scrapping the building consents regime to ease the liability load on local councils. Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk said today the regime is "sluggish" and holding the building sector back. "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. "This often happens when one of the parties responsible cannot pay for repairs, for example, if a business goes bust." Penk said building owners could currently claim full compensation from any responsible party and it was often councils, with the deepest pockets and no ability to walk away, that ended up footing the bill. "The risk-aversion this creates leads to frustrating delays and extra cost for builders and homeowners." The government is scrapping the existing 'joint and several liability' regime in favour of a 'proportionate liability' one. Under the new model, each party will only be responsible for the share of work they carried out. "Building owners will be protected if things go wrong and we're exploring options such as requiring professional indemnity insurance and home warranties, similar to arrangements in Australia," Penk said. "In terms of looking across the Tasman, we can copy their homework on it to a large extent. We can learn from Australia's lessons in a positive way." The minister pointed to a 2015 case in Queenstown, where the the Oaks Shores body corporate filed a $160 million claim for weathertight defects as an example of system failure. "The developer had been placed into voluntary liquidation and was not sued, leaving ratepayers exposed to the entire claim. "If the case hadn't been settled privately, ratepayers could have faced rates increases of $300 a year for 30 years. It's time to put the responsibility where it belongs," Penk said. Councils get the green light to consolidate The government also announced it will allow councils to voluntarily consolidate their Building Consent Authority (BCAs) functions with each other. "It is ridiculous builders, designers and homeowners must navigate 67 different interpretations of the Building Code, because of the number of council BCAs across the country," Penk said. "Builders can be rejected on paperwork that would be accepted by a neighbouring authority simply because each BCA applies the rules differently." Many councils had asked for the ability to consolidate, he said. "I expect they will seize the opportunity to consolidate, share resources like building inspectors and IT systems, and pass the savings on to ratepayers. "We know the sector is behind us. New Zealand Certified Builders have said that this is the most significant change for the building industry in a generation, that it has been a long time coming and the change is welcomed by the industry." These changes would reduce the cost of building as the delays now were with building consents being issued, he said. "If you reduce that delay you get better productivity." 'Massive impact' Building Industry Federation chief executive Julien Leys told RNZ's Midday Report programme a shift to proportionate liability in the building consents system would have a "massive" impact on the sector. "We're going to see builders that will have to have mandatory insurance, there'll be auditing. That risk is going to be transferred. That means the councils will not be living under this fear of litigation and ultimately that's going to enable much faster, more efficient processing of consents." Leys supported the move to open up consolidation for the country's BCAs. "I think the move is going to be to say, look we've got 67 Building Consent Authorities in the country - far too many - and we're seeing far too much inconsistency between those councils. "Let's look at the options: we can either get those councils to consolidate, bring their resources together, we could have one big overarching national point of contact. "I think the drive is to have consistency and reduce time. One of the options was to ensure we actually have 80 percent of consenting done in three days. It's going to speed up the whole process and bring down cost." The building sector would welcome any changes that made it easier and cheaper to build, Leys said. "It has certainly been a tough period that's highlighted the fact that we need efficiencies in the sector. It's been 21 years since we've had any major reforms of the code as well so it's timely. "Anything where we can address cost and delays is welcome. I say bring it on." High eligibility standards, mandatory insurance and ongoing auditing and bigger fines for non-compliance would ensure the changes didn't lead to another leaky homes crisis, he said.
RNZ News
a day ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Watch: Major shake-up of building consents announced
The coalition is scrapping the building consents regime to ease the liability load on local councils. Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk said the regime is "sluggish" and holding the building sector back. "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," Penk said. "This often happens when one of the parties responsible cannot pay for repairs, for example, if a business goes bust." Penk said building owners could currently claim full compensation from any responsible party and it was often councils, with the deepest pockets and no ability to walk away, that ended up footing the bill. "The risk-aversion this creates leads to frustrating delays and extra cost for builders and homeowners," Penk said. The government is scrapping the existing 'joint and several liability' regime in favour of a 'proportionate liability' one. Under the new model, each party will only be responsible for the share of work they carried out. "Building owners will be protected if things go wrong and we're exploring options such as requiring professional indemnity insurance and home warranties, similar to arrangements in Australia," Penk said. The minister pointed to a 2015 case in Queenstown, where the the Oaks Shores body corporate filed a $160 million claim for weathertight defects, as an example of system failure. "The developer had been placed into voluntary liquidation and was not sued, leaving ratepayers exposed to the entire claim," Penk said. "If the case hadn't been settled privately, ratepayers could have faced rates increases of $300 a year for 30 years. It's time to put the responsibility where it belongs." The government has also announced it will allow councils to voluntarily consolidate their Building Consent Authority (BCAs) functions with each other. "It is ridiculous builders, designers and homeowners must navigate 67 different interpretations of the Building Code, because of the number of council BCAs across the country," Penk said. "Builders can be rejected on paperwork that would be accepted by a neighbouring authority simply because each BCA applies the rules differently." Chris Penk said councils will also be allowed to voluntarily consolidate their Building Consent Authority (BCAs) functions with each other. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone Penk said many councils had asked for the ability to consolidate. "I expect they will seize the opportunity to consolidate, share resources like building inspectors and IT systems, and pass the savings on to ratepayers," he said. "We know the sector is behind us. New Zealand Certified Builders have said that this is the most significant change for the building industry in a generation, that it has been a long time coming and the change is welcomed by the industry." Building Industry Federation chief executive Julien Leys told Midday Report a shift to proportionate liability in the building consents system would have a "massive" impact on the sector. "We're going to see builders that will have to have mandatory insurance, there'll be auditing. That risk is going to be transferred. That means the councils will not be living under this fear of litigation and ultimately that's going to enable much faster, more efficient processing of consents," Leys said. Leys was supportive of the move to open up consolidation for the country's 67 BCAs. "I think the move is going to be to say, look we've got 67 Building Consent Authorities in the country, far too many, and we're seeing far too much inconsistency between those councils. "Let's look at the options: we can either get those councils to consolidate, bring their resources together, we could have one big overarching national point of contact. "I think the drive is to have consistency and reduce time. One of the options was to ensure we actually have 80 percent of consenting done in three days. It's going to speed up the whole process and bring down cost." He said the building sector would welcome any changes that made it easier and cheaper to build. "It has certainly been a tough period that's highlighted the fact that we need efficiencies in the sector. It's been 21 years since we've had any major reforms of the code as well so it's timely. "Anything where we can address cost and delays is welcome. I say bring it on." Leys said high eligibility standards, mandatory insurance and ongoing auditing and bigger fines for non-compliance would ensure the changes didn't lead to another leaky homes crisis. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
1News
28-05-2025
- Business
- 1News
New private building consent authority launches
A new private building consent service has launched, promising to cut waiting times and costs with faster approvals for "low-risk" house-building projects. Building Consent Approvals will become the country's first independent residential building consent authority (BCA). Operating nationally, it promises to soon be able to issue consents within 10 working days for eligible residential projects. The privately-owned company has been accredited and registered as an independent Building Consent Authority and reviewed by International Accreditation New Zealand to ensure compliance with Building Act regulations. It has been assessed against the same legislation as all council BCAs. ADVERTISEMENT The new service was launched this morning by South Island Minister James Meager in Selwyn. He emphasised that the new consent authority was subject to the same standards as councils. "For a region like Selwyn, I can't think of a better place to launch something like this, one of the fastest growing regions in the country, along with places like Central Otago down south as well," he said. "In terms of the accreditation and the approval process, it's quite a rigorous, thorough process to go through. The authorities are going to have the same oversight that councils are subject to in terms of the responsibilities and obligations under the Building Act." Meager said giving consumers "choice" would help people not only save money but also potentially time on building projects. Building Consent Approvals chairman Tony Sewell said the service will focus on "low-risk residential housing, notably single-storey homes, rather than large or complex buildings". Builders fixing up a property. (Source: "With BCA focused on low-risk residential housing, it will take the pressure off local body workloads so they can concentrate on commercial, retail, apartment buildings and more complex, higher risk projects," he said in a media release. ADVERTISEMENT "Our goal is to make the building consent process faster, easier and cheaper. Our approach will support the rapid delivery of quality homes, particularly in high-growth areas like Selwyn and Christchurch, where housing demand continues to surge." The company said it had full civil liability coverage for its activities, providing assurance to homeowners, developers and councils. "As a government-approved, accredited co-regulator, our role is to ensure building risk, quality and civil liability responsibilities are covered," Sewell said. The Building Act has allowed for independent building consent authorities to enter the market since 2004, as an alternative service to what's provided by local councils. A construction site featuring an unfinished modern house (file image). (Source: It comes as Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk, who was unable to attend today's launch due to weather, has pushed to accelerate building projects. Last month, the Government announced it would bring in a new scheme allowing trusted builders to sign off their own work, in addition to targets to tackle building inspection wait times. "Making it easier and more affordable to build opens the door to homeownership for more Kiwis, gives families choice about where they live, and supports growth and job creation in the construction sector," he said in April. ADVERTISEMENT "We can't achieve this vision while the building consent system remains slow and overloaded. Even simple, single-storey homes must go through around 12 inspections before they're finished, with costly delays when demand is high. "When many Kiwis are locked out of the housing market, that's simply not good enough." Last month, the Government also said it would increase the size of granny flats, able to be built without consent, from 60 to 70 square metres.
