Chris Penk: Building and Construction Minister on the shake up of building consents and liability

Taking some of the pressure off councils is expected to make them more willing to consent buildings.  

The Government will shift liability for building defects based on responsibility.  

Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says councils will still have responsibility for their consenting.  

He told Mike Hosking liability will be decided by the courts.  

Penk says we could see some cases where the various councils and designers share 50% liability. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
More change for housing and construction. Couple of key changes.
Councils will no longer be the last checkbook standing if
things go south, developers, builders, potentially owners will carry more
of the responsibility. Chris pink as the Building and construction
ministries with us. Good morning, morning Mike. How much of
this still goes on? How many people are building bad
buildings that will come back to bite us? Therefore, how
much do we actually need to change these rules?

Speaker 2 (00:23):
There's not a lot of that activity going on, but
we do need to change the rules, partly because it's
the fear of that in every case that makes the
council so risk averse. So that's a lot that's got
to blame for the delays that we see. So without
the fixture hanging over the council, may can you get
on and do your job in a way that reflects
the proportionate risks that they take.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
The proportionate liability that you talked about yesterday, and the
fact it's been in Australia for decades, why haven't we
done it?

Speaker 2 (00:50):
I mean a number of people have talked about it
for many years and all commission's written A couple are
very long and where their reports. I'm not sure how
many people have read them, but it seems to me
and no brainer, including the cold they do it over
the other side of the testment, as you say, So
are we just think it's time to get on and
do it?

Speaker 1 (01:05):
And how do you work out proportionality? Because here's the problem.
I get consent, I'm starting to build, the council comes down,
the council looks, the council ticks it off. Turns out
to be a crap building. But the council signed it up.
So that's the council's fault, isn't it.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
Yeah, I mean you're stating for you that case might
be that it might be fifty percent libel for the
designer or the architecture in fifty percent for the council.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
So I mean, but who would decide that?

Speaker 2 (01:31):
How a court does? A court does so, and they
are portionate all the way through as long as the
number add up to one hundred percent liability, so that
the homeowner or the other building owner isn't less carrying
in the camp?

Speaker 1 (01:42):
Am I on the hook as of the homeowner at
any point? And who decides? And how do we decide that?

Speaker 2 (01:48):
Yeah, you're not on the hook because you haven't you know,
you're not to take the blame for the design or
the workmanship. The only question I think we do need
to answer is what the consumer protection measures are that
fit along side that, because what we don't want is
you is the homeowners to have work that's done poorly
and do you want to see or have responsible for
you know, it's i'steen twenty percent whatever for the cost

(02:12):
of some of the defects by a trade who's us
and gone. And that's why we're looking at our measures
like whether we have professional and given any insurance to
be compulsory for architects and engineers and other insurance and
guaranteed schemes that already exists. Maybe we sort of lean
on those of it more.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
The other piece of work, the sharing of resources with counsels.
Are they into this? Are they cooperative or are you
going to have to bang heads?

Speaker 2 (02:36):
No, they are into it. It's precisely because they have
asked for that. Of the different range of options that
we put to them over the last year, this is
the one that they say, We're ready to go, we
want to do it, we want to share the resources
that helps us out. Please do it.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
And so we are so in totality. Once you've got
all of this in place, and you've got your pink
bats and you're building products and your new paperwork and
your garden sheds and all the stuff you've done, how
much difference do you reckon you've made.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
Well, we think it will make a big difference if
you add all those up. You know, none of them
in itself we would claim as a silver bullet. And actually,
of course it also goes alongside spreeing up the land
and the resource management rules that Chris Bishop is leading.
So I think when we do all that, it's definitely
downward pressure on prices in a significant way.

Speaker 1 (03:20):
Good stuff. Chris Pink, Construction Minister with us. For more
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