Health Act 1956

Powers and duties of local authorities - Buildings

53A: Mortgagee may do acts required of owner

You could also call this:

"If you don't follow health and safety rules for your house, the person you borrowed money from can fix the problems and you have to pay them back."

If you own a house, you have to follow certain rules to keep it safe and healthy. If you do not follow these rules, the person who lent you money to buy the house, called the mortgagee, can step in and do what needs to be done. The mortgagee can do things like fix problems with the house, and you will have to pay them back for the work they did. You can still get in trouble for not following the rules, even if the mortgagee fixes the problems.

The mortgagee is the person or company that lent you money to buy the house, and their name is on the official records for the land. This includes people who have a special kind of loan called a charge on the land, which is also registered officially. You can find more information about how this works in the Deeds Registration Act 1908 and the Land Transfer Act 2017.

If the mortgagee spends money to fix problems with the house, they can add that amount to the total amount you owe them, and you will have to pay it back. If someone else is responsible for the house, like the owner, they will have to pay you back for the money you owed the mortgagee. The mortgagee's actions do not change the fact that you can still be penalised for not following the rules in the first place.

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This page was last updated on 24 May 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM307009.

53: Restriction on use of materials for building, or

"Rules about what materials you can use when building something"

53B: Provisions where owner is a trustee, or

"What happens if a trustee owns a building that needs health repairs or changes"

Part 2Powers and duties of local authorities
Buildings

53AMortgagee may do acts required of owner

Where, by or under any of sections 41, 42, 44, and 46, the owner of any dwellinghouse or other premises is required to do any act or thing and the owner fails or refuses to do that act or thing, any mortgagee of the land on which the dwellinghouse or other premises is situated may do the act or thing.
Notwithstanding any covenant or agreement to the contrary, any expenses incurred by any mortgagee pursuant to this section shall be recoverable by the mortgagee from the owner as a debt due to the mortgagee by the owner.
Without limiting subsection (2), on notice in writing to the mortgagor by the mortgagee, any such expenses incurred by the mortgagee shall be deemed to be added to the principal sum owing under the mortgage and to be secured thereby; and, if the mortgagor is not the owner, the amount so deemed to be added shall be recoverable by the mortgagor from the owner as a debt due to the mortgagor by the owner.
The exercise by a mortgagee of the powers conferred by this section shall not relieve any person from liability to any penalty for failure to comply with the requirements of any of the provisions of this Act specified in subsection (1).
In this section the term mortgagee, in relation to a dwellinghouse, means a mortgagee of the land under a mortgage that is registered under the Deeds Registration Act 1908 or the Land Transfer Act 2017, or in respect of which a caveat is lodged with the Registrar-General of Land; and includes the holder of any charge on the land that is duly registered pursuant to subpart 5 of Part 3 of the Land Transfer Act 2017.

Notes

Section 53A: inserted, on 30 November 1979, by section 4(1) of the Health Amendment Act 1979 (1979 No 64).
Section 53A(1): amended, on 1 July 1992, by section 92(1) of the Building Act 1991 (1991 No 150).
Section 53A(5): amended, on 12 November 2018, by section 250 of the Land Transfer Act 2017 (2017 No 30).