Proposed consumer protection for homeowners

Commerce Minister Lianne Dalziel today encouraged consumers and the building industry to give feedback on some further proposed measures to protect homeowners purchasing building services or built homes.

“The Ministry of Economic Development (MED) has prepared a paper setting out some proposals for better protecting homeowners, building on the proposals set out in the Building Bill,” Lianne Dalziel said.

“The Ministry wants to test these proposals with the industry and with consumers before developing them further for possible inclusion in the Building Bill.”

“The Bill aims to improve inputs into the building process and the overall effectiveness of controls in the building industry, so buildings are built right first time. But the Bill doesn’t cover off a couple of important protections for homeowners in case things go wrong.”

The Bill doesn’t directly control or regulate developers. Nor does it regulate the sale of buildings or the financial capacity or willingness of building practitioners to meet their obligations for any defective work.

“While the Bill does provide for statutory warranties, which will improve the legal rights of homeowners, it doesn’t include methods for enforcing those rights. The MED discussion document looks at this issue and proposes a package of measures to address it,” Lianne Dalziel said.

The discussion document is available on the MED website, www.med.govt.nz. Submissions close on 15 October and should be sent to:

Building Review Regulatory and Competition Policy Ministry of Economic Development 33 Bowen St PO Box 1473, Wellington Or by email to: buildingreview@med.govt.nz

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