Building Amendment Bill Number 4

Yes, the dust has hardly settled and here we are with the proposed amendment we knew was coming…

The summary of the content from the Bill itself:
• introduces enhanced and more comprehensive consumer protection measures, including mandatory written contracts for work valued over a prescribed amount, mandatory disclosure of certain information by building contractors, and new offenses for breaches of these requirements:

• clarifies the exemptions from building consent requirements in Schedule 1 of the Act by rewriting and reformatting the whole schedule and adds some new exemptions, including removing the word “damaged” from the exemption for demolition of outbuildings because the risks posed by the work are no different for “damaged” or “undamaged” outbuildings:
• adds a new power for territorial authorities to deal with buildings that are at risk because they are near or adjacent to dangerous buildings:
• increases the maximum penalty for the offence of doing building work without a building consent from $100,000 to $200,000:
• clarifies the powers of the Chief Executive of the Department of Building and Housing to review the performance of territorial authorities, regional authorities, and building consent authorities under the Act:
• introduces the concept of a “classifiable dam” and a “referable dam” for the purposes of the Dam Safety Scheme:
• gives regional authorities the discretion to investigate and refer a “referable dam” for classification:
• improves the administrative efficiency of the Dam Safety Scheme:
• makes a number of other minor and technical amendments.

Download a copy of the Bill HERE <http://app1.mmpathway.com/bnets/lists/lt.php?id=eE8NBwgNC09SAklUW1UI>

Submissions open until 11 June 2012. To get info on making a submission to Parliament click HERE <http://app1.mmpathway.com/bnets/lists/lt.php?id=eE8NBwgNCk9SAklUW1UI>

Kind regards
Rosie Killip