Building Act 2004

Building - Code compliance certificates, certificates of acceptance, and compliance schedules - Annual building warrant of fitness

108A: Duties of independently qualified person

You could also call this:

"What an independently qualified person must do to honestly check and maintain building systems"

If you are an independently qualified person, you must be honest when you say that someone has followed the rules for checking and maintaining a building's systems, like a lift or ventilation system. You can only say they have done this if they really have done all the checks and maintenance in the last 12 months. If you say they have done it when they haven't, you will have committed an offence.

You will have a defence if you can prove that you made a reasonable mistake, or you relied on incorrect information given to you by someone else, or you took reasonable precautions to avoid the mistake.

If you commit an offence, you can be fined up to $50,000 if you are an individual, or up to $150,000 if you are a company. This law was inserted by the Building (Earthquake-prone Building Deadlines and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2024.

You must always follow the rules and be honest when you are checking and maintaining building systems, so you do not get in trouble or put people's safety at risk.

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This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS1012887.


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108: Annual building warrant of fitness, or

"A yearly certificate to prove your building's safety systems are working correctly"


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Part 2Building
Code compliance certificates, certificates of acceptance, and compliance schedules: Annual building warrant of fitness

108ADuties of independently qualified person

  1. An independently qualified person must not state (whether in a building warrant of fitness or any other document) that the inspection, maintenance, or reporting procedures in a compliance schedule relating to a specified system (for example, a lift or ventilation system) have been complied with during the previous 12 months if those inspection, maintenance, or reporting procedures for that system have not been fully complied with during that period.

  2. Every person who acts in breach of subsection (1) commits an offence.

  3. It is a defence to a prosecution for an offence against subsection (1) if the defendant proves that—

  4. the failure to comply with subsection (1) was due to—
    1. a reasonable mistake; or
      1. reasonable reliance on information supplied to the defendant by another person; or
      2. the defendant took reasonable precautions and exercised due diligence to avoid the failure.
        1. A person who commits an offence under subsection (1) is liable on conviction,—

        2. in the case of an individual, to a fine not exceeding $50,000:
          1. in the case of a body corporate, to a fine not exceeding $150,000.
            Notes
            • Section 108A: inserted, on , by section 12 of the Building (Earthquake-prone Building Deadlines and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2024 (2024 No 49).