Plain language law

New Zealand law explained for everyone

Building Act 2004

“Keeping buildings safe, healthy, and eco-friendly for everyone”

This law aims to regulate building work and set up a system for licensing building practitioners. It also sets standards for how buildings should perform to keep you safe and healthy when you use them.

The law wants to make sure that buildings are safe for you to use and won’t harm your health. It also wants buildings to have features that help you stay healthy, be independent, and feel good when you’re in them. Another important point is that if there’s a fire, you should be able to escape from the building easily.

The law also encourages buildings to be designed, built, and used in ways that are good for the environment and support sustainable development. This means thinking about how buildings affect the world around us, now and in the future.

Lastly, the law makes sure that everyone involved in building work - like owners, designers, builders, and building consent authorities - is responsible for making sure the work follows the building code. This helps to keep everyone accountable and ensures that buildings are safe and well-constructed.

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.

---