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Building Act 2004

Regulation of building practitioners - Licensing and disciplining of building practitioners - Discipline

316: Board must investigate complaints

You could also call this:

“The group in charge must look into problems people report about builders, unless someone else is already doing that job.”

When someone makes a complaint about a licensed building practitioner, the Board has to look into it as soon as they can. They need to decide if they should keep investigating or not.

Sometimes, the Board might get a complaint about someone who is treated like a licensed building practitioner because they are registered or licensed under a different law. For example, this could be a registered architect. If the Board thinks this person is already under a similar or stricter discipline system because of that other law, they won’t investigate the complaint themselves. Instead, they will send the complaint to the group that deals with complaints under that other law.

If the complaint isn’t about someone in that special situation, the Board will investigate it themselves. They have to do this quickly after they get the complaint.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM308641.

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Housing and property > Home safety and repairs
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315: Complaints about licensed building practitioners, or

“Rules about telling on builders who do the wrong thing”

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317: Grounds for discipline of licensed building practitioners, or

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Part 4 Regulation of building practitioners
Licensing and disciplining of building practitioners: Discipline

316Board must investigate complaints

  1. The Board must, as soon as practicable after receiving a complaint, investigate the complaint and determine whether or not to proceed with it.

  2. However, subsection (3) applies if the Board receives a complaint about a licensed building practitioner—

  3. who is a licensed building practitioner only because he or she is treated under section 291 and the rules as if he or she is licensed because he or she is registered, licensed, or otherwise recognised under any other enactment (for example, a registered architect); and
    1. who is, in the opinion of the Board, subject to a substantially similar or more stringent disciplinary regime by or under that other enactment.

      1. The Board may not investigate or proceed with the complaint, but must refer it to the body that is responsible for dealing with complaints under that other enactment.

      Notes
      • Section 316(2)(a): amended, on , by section 79 of the Building Amendment Act 2008 (2008 No 4).