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Building Act 2004

Consumer rights and remedies in relation to residential building work - Remedy of defect notified within 1 year of completion

362Q: Building contractor or on-seller must remedy defect notified within 1 year of completion

You could also call this:

“If you find a problem with building work within a year, the builder or seller must fix it for free.”

If someone does building work on your home and there’s a problem with it, you might be able to get it fixed for free. This applies if the work was done by a builder or if you bought the house from someone who had just built or renovated it.

You need to tell the builder or seller about the problem within 12 months after the work is finished. You should do this in writing. If the problem can be fixed, they must fix it within a reasonable time. This includes repairing or replacing any faulty building products they used.

If you’ve lost money or had damage because of the problem, you might be able to get money to cover this too. But you can’t claim for any drop in the value of the building work.

These rules don’t change any other promises the builder or seller made to you. You can still use those promises even after the 12 months are over.

Remember, these rules only apply to building work done after this law started. If the work was done before, or if you signed a contract for the work before this law began, these rules don’t apply.

For more information about who counts as an ‘on-seller’, you can check section 362H(3). To learn about other promises builders and sellers make, look at section 362I.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM6371140.

Topics:
Housing and property > Home safety and repairs
Business > Industry rules
Consumer protection > Consumer protection
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362P: Rules applying to cancellation, or

“This explains how to properly cancel a building contract and what happens when you do.”

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362R: Definitions for purposes of section 362Q, or

“This part explains who is involved when fixing building problems within the first year after a building is finished.”

Part 4A Consumer rights and remedies in relation to residential building work
Remedy of defect notified within 1 year of completion

362QBuilding contractor or on-seller must remedy defect notified within 1 year of completion

  1. This section applies if—

  2. building work is carried out in relation to a household unit; and
    1. the building work is defective; and
      1. the defect is able to be remedied; and
        1. the building work is carried out by or on behalf of a building contractor or the household unit is purchased from an on-seller (as defined in section 362H(3)).

          1. In any case to which this section applies, the client may give notice, within 12 months from completion of the building work, to either the building contractor or the on-seller (if there is one) requiring that person to remedy the defect.

          2. In any case to which this section applies, the building contractor or the on-seller, as the case may be, to whom notice has been given in accordance with subsection (2) must remedy the defect (including repairing or replacing defective building products used in the building work) within a reasonable time of notification in writing of the defect.

          3. In any case in which it is asserted against a building contractor or an on-seller that this section applies, the matters referred to in subsection (1) are presumed unless the contrary is proven.

          4. In addition to the remedy in subsection (3), the client may obtain from the building contractor or the on-seller damages for any loss or damage to the client resulting from the defect (other than loss or damage through reduction in value of the product of the building work) that was reasonably foreseeable as liable to result from the defect.

          5. Nothing in this section affects the warranties set out in section 362I or limits the time for enforcing any of those warranties.

          6. This section does not apply to building work carried out—

          7. before this section comes into force; or
            1. under a contract entered into before this section comes into force.

              Notes
              • Section 362Q: inserted, on , by section 56 of the Building Amendment Act 2013 (2013 No 100).
              • Section 362Q(3): amended, on , by section 81 of the Building (Building Products and Methods, Modular Components, and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2021 (2021 No 21).