Councils brought up to standard on issuing building consents

All New Zealand territorial authorities are now registered as building consent authorities.

Nigel Bickle, the Department of Building and Housing's deputy chief executive of sector capability, said the process for councils to meet standards when inspecting buildings and issuing building consents had been completed.

The system of registering councils was the previous government's move to counter low standards being exhibited by councils in issuing building consents.

Slow processing times, excessive red tape and poorly trained staff - many with inadequate English language skills - came under fire three years ago when the new system was announced.

Critics said they believed councils were not suddenly capable of carrying out the process and that standards had been lowered so councils could at least be seen to be competent.

The demand for councils to be registered followed the collapse of the private certification sector whereby councils contracted private businesses to issue building consents.

The leaky building crisis caused that sector to fail after private certifiers could no longer get insurance.

Thousands of leaky-home victims have named councils in court and state proceedings in an attempt to get compensation so they can fix their places.

At issue is code compliance certificates issued by councils and private certifiers which state that buildings complied with rules including the Building Act and building code.

Many council building inspectors failed to meet the higher standards demanded by the previous government as a response to the leaky building crisis.

Out of 73 councils, only Palmerston North was accredited as technically competent to check buildings by early 2007. Some councils, struggling with understaffing and lack of training, were found to be woefully inadequate.

Shane Jones, the Labour government's Building and Construction Minister, last year issued nine-month extensions so all councils could become registered.

Many had not met the deadline and Jones said that without an extension of time, councils not accredited and registered could not lawfully continue to grant building consents, carry out inspections or otherwise approve building work.

He said this would have major unacceptable impacts for industry, business, homeowners and communities as lawful building work in those council districts would grind to a halt.

But Bickle said all councils were now registered to carry out the functions.

The Department of Building and Housing's review of Auckland City in 2007 found it processing consents for annual construction worth $1.3 billion but criticised acceptance of sub-standard documents, poor staffing levels and lack of staff training.