Focus on SMEs: New building laws - where does responsibility lie?

A written contract with a building company will help make responsibilities clear. Photo / Thinkstock

Problem: I run a small business and am thinking about extending my premises. With the introduction of the new Licensed Building Practitioner scheme (LBP), if I hire a building company such as GJ Gardiner or Platinum Home to do the work and they then subcontract out the labour to a LBP and I then have problems with my building a few years later, how responsible is the company I hire? Would the law now say responsibility lies with the LBP or the company I employed to do the work? Is there any advantage in dealing with a company over a LBP in regards to compensation if something was to go wrong in the future?

Solution: The Department of Building and Housing replies: "Little changes under the new laws: if homeowners are contracting with the practitioner directly, they need to ensure the practitioner is appropriately licensed.

"If they are contracting with a building company, they need to make it clear in the contract that the company is responsible for hiring the appropriate people and they take responsibility for the consenting and RBW requirements. Whichever way, we recommend a written contract be used to make responsibilities clear."

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