The Building Act states that an owner must obtain a building consent from Council before doing work and must advise Council when the work is completed.
The Council shall issue a Code Compliance Certificate (CCC) if it is satisfied on reasonable grounds that the building work complies with the Building Consent.
Reasonable grounds – whether there are reasonable grounds for issuing a CCC will vary from building to building.
Aspects to take into account are:
- The Council’s own inspections.
- The skill and experience of the person who did the work.
- A ‘Producer Statement’ from the builder or person who did the work. Factors to take into account regarding ‘Producer Statements’ include:
- whether the person making the statement can be sure that the work was properly done.
- any other relevant matters.
What can the applicant do if the Council refuses to issue a Code Compliance Certificate?
Options include:
- Giving the Council additional grounds for issuing the CCC ie providing ‘Producer Statements’, opening up work, supplying an investigative report from a suitably qualified person.
- Altering the building as necessary to satisfy the Council.
- Apply to the ‘Department of Building & Housing’ for a determination that the work complies with the Building Code.
Where no progress has taken place for a number of years and owners call Council for a final inspection:
- An inspection will be carried out to assess if a CCC can be issued.
- If the Council are unable to satisfactorily determine that all work complies with the Building Code, then a building consultant may be employed by the Council at the owner’s cost.
- From the consultant’s report, Council will then assess if a CCC or a ‘Notice to Fix' will be issued.
- A conditional CCC may be issued or excluding items that cannot be seen or those items whose durability period has passed.
- If the project has a monolithic type cladding, then a more detailed check will be necessary and may result in Council declining to issue a Code Compliance Certificate. More information is available on Monolithic Claddings.