By Andrew Steele - 30 Aug 2012
The High Court recently confirmed that a claim could proceed
against Auckland Council when the only action within the claimable
ten-year period was issuing the code compliance certificate.
Associate Judge Bell held in Montgomery v Auckland
Council [2012] NZHC 1732 that a claim could proceed even
though all of the Council's inspections had taken place outside the
ten-year period. There was a case for the Council to answer where
the information available to them when considering whether to issue
a CCC could be inadequate due to an insufficient inspection
regime.
To date no leaky building case against the Council has gone all
the way to trial where the only Council action within time is the
CCC. This decision supports what must be the only just outcome:
Councils cannot excuse a CCC issued on the back of negligent
inspections simply because those inspections are outside the
statutory time limits.
Leaky building claims should always be brought as soon as
possible in order to capture any potentially negligent actions of
the builder and others involved in the construction as well as the
Council's inspections. The Montgomery case at least
provides some reassurance for homeowners who can only rely on the
CCC. For more information contact our leaky building team.
Links:
Montgomery v
Auckland Council