Regulation 7 – Performing building control functions
Building consent authorities must have policies, procedures and systems in place for performing building control functions.
Amendments to the BCA Accreditation Regulations
On 16 May 2024 the following regulation change was notified in the New Zealand Gazette and will come into force 28 days later on 17 June 2024.
Regulation 7
Regulation 7 requires a BCA to have policies, procedures and systems for performing its building control functions. Regulation 7(2)(f) sets out requirements in three distinct areas, issuing and refusing to issue CCCs, compliance schedules and notices to fix. In order to improve the clarity and workability of 7(2)(f), each function has been separated out as a standalone provision.
This represents an administrative change for the most part, and is being made so that it is clear where the accreditation issue raised in an assessment stems from.
The objective of the regulation
Regulation 7 of the Building (Accreditation of Building Consent Authorities) Regulations 2006 (the Regulations) is intended to ensure that Building Consent Authorities have the policies, procedures and systems in place for building consent decision-making and to perform other building control functions under the Building Act 2004 (the Act). The Regulations make specific reference to the required policies, procedures and systems that must cover:
- providing information to enable customers and applicants to navigate the steps and key requirements of the building consent process, and to make good consent applications
- receiving and checking of applications for building consents to ensure that they include the relevant information required by the Act and associated regulations, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and other agencies, and to enable a decision
- ensuring that all building consent applications accepted for processing are entered into the BCA’s consenting system, and assessed and allocated to competent employees or contractors to process so they do not languish
- processing building consents to be reasonably satisfied that if building work is undertaken in accordance with the application it will be Building Code compliant, and then granting and issuing building consents (or otherwise refusing them)
- planning, performing and managing inspections, including taking appropriate action where non-compliance with the building consent or Building Code is identified, and then granting and issuing code compliance certificates (or otherwise)
- issuing compliance schedules and notices to fix where required
- receiving and managing inquiries about building control functions to ensure customer service support for applicants engaged in the consent process, and receiving and managing complaints about building control functions.
The regulatory guidance in this section has been developed to support understanding of the Regulations as amended by the Building (Accreditation of Building Consent Authorities) Amendment Regulations 2016 (the amendment Regulations). The amendment Regulations come into effect on 1 July 2017.
Regulation 7 and the amendment Regulations are available on the Legislation website.