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Building Act 2004

Building - Special provisions for dangerous, affected, and insanitary buildings - Powers of territorial authorities in respect of dangerous, affected, or insanitary buildings

124: Dangerous, affected, or insanitary buildings: powers of territorial authority

You could also call this:

“Local authorities can take action to protect people from unsafe buildings in their area.”

If you live in a district and the local council thinks a building there is dangerous, affected, or unsanitary, they can do a few things to keep you safe. They might put up a fence to stop people from getting too close to the building. They could also put up a sign to warn you not to go near it.

For buildings that are dangerous or unsanitary (but not affected), the council can tell the owner to fix the problem. They’ll give the owner a notice that says what needs to be done to make the building safer or cleaner.

The council can also limit who can go into the building. They might say only certain people can enter, or that you can only go in for specific reasons. They’ll give out a notice that explains these rules.

All of these actions are to help keep you and others in the community safe from buildings that might be risky to be around or inside.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM307300.

Topics:
Housing and property > Home safety and repairs
Government and voting > Local councils
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123B: Buildings in areas designated under subpart 6B, or

“Rules for dangerous or insanitary buildings in special areas don't apply, but some actions taken before can still happen.”

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125: Requirements for notice requiring building work or restricting entry, or

“Rules for writing and sharing notices about fixing unsafe buildings or stopping people from going inside them”

Part 2 Building
Special provisions for dangerous, affected, and insanitary buildings: Powers of territorial authorities in respect of dangerous, affected, or insanitary buildings

124Dangerous, affected, or insanitary buildings: powers of territorial authority

  1. This section applies if a territorial authority is satisfied that a building in its district is a dangerous, affected, or insanitary building.

  2. In a case to which this section applies, the territorial authority may do any or all of the following:

  3. put up a hoarding or fence to prevent people from approaching the building nearer than is safe:
    1. attach in a prominent place on, or adjacent to, the building a notice that warns people not to approach the building:
      1. except in the case of an affected building, issue a notice that complies with section 125(1) requiring work to be carried out on the building to—
        1. reduce or remove the danger; or
          1. prevent the building from remaining insanitary:
          2. issue a notice that complies with section 125(1A) restricting entry to the building for particular purposes or restricting entry to particular persons or groups of persons.

            1. Repealed
            Notes
            • Section 124: replaced, on , by section 30 of the Building Amendment Act 2013 (2013 No 100).
            • Section 124 heading: amended, on , by section 17(1) of the Building (Earthquake-prone Buildings) Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 22).
            • Section 124(1): amended, on , by section 17(2) of the Building (Earthquake-prone Buildings) Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 22).
            • Section 124(3): repealed, on , by section 17(3) of the Building (Earthquake-prone Buildings) Amendment Act 2016 (2016 No 22).