*ARCHIVE* - Deregistration of Approved Building Certifiers 8 Sep 2004
Information and advice
Media release
8 September 2004
The Building Industry Authority today advised the deregistration of Approved Building Certifiers (ABC), following a formal finding that ABC has been negligent and was incompetent to act as a building certifier.
Authority chief executive John Ryan said the decision had been taken to protect consumers against negligent practices.
"This is a serious decision and one taken after careful consideration. The BIA is required to protect the integrity of the building control system, the system can't work when those responsible for protecting the interests of homeowners seriously breach the rules."
Mr Ryan said it was important to make clear that this situation related only to ABC and not to other building certifiers. In general building certifiers have a high level of technical competence and professionalism.
He said the BIA was working with ABC and territorial authorities to achieve an orderly transfer of ABC's current clients to territorial authorities, who are required under the Building Act 1991 to carry on inspection and certification work.
"We are in discussions with ABC about this and will continue to facilitate and monitor the transfer. We are looking to complete the transfer as quickly as possible, but ultimately it depends on how cooperative ABC is."
Mr Ryan said the BIA regretted that, in the short term, there will be some disruption as files are transferred to councils. However the BIA will endeavour to assist this process as much as it can.
ABC's registration will be finally cancelled on 18 October 2004. However the company can no longer conduct inspections or issue building certificates and code compliance certificates.
The Authority's decision follows an Investigation and Inquiry into complaints received by the BIA that revealed serious breaches of the Building Act 1991.
The Authority found ABC to have been negligent and incompetent in the following respects:
- Issuing code compliance certificates and interim code compliance certificates for buildings outside the scope of its approval
- Inadequate record keeping and irregularities relating to the signature of inspection-related documents
- Faulty inspections on which code compliance certificates were issued
- Inspecting work that had not received a consent.
ABC has offices in Mt Wellington, Henderson, Waitakere City, North Shore and Whangarei. The BIA estimates ABC has 5000 current buildings for which ABC is providing inspection and certification services. These will vary considerably as to where they are in the building process, from projects that have recently received consents to buildings that may have been finished for some time but for which the code compliance certification process is not yet complete.
The BIA has established a call free number 0800 40 41 42 for clients of ABC who are wanting more information. Further information is also available on the BIA website www.dbh.govt.nz
Contact: Blair McLaren 04 495 2773 or 027 258 2849
The Building Industry Authority
The BIA is a Crown agency responsible for regulating the building industry under the Building Act 1991. That responsibility includes granting approval for private building certifiers to operate. The BIA also has monitoring powers and can investigate complaints about building certifiers.
Building Certifiers
Building certifiers are privately employed people or organisations, who provide a similar building certification service to council building officials. To operate as a building certifier a person or organisation must be approved and registered by the BIA, in accordance with the Building Act 1991. Building owners have the choice of employing building certifiers as alternatives to councils for inspection and certification work.