Builder fined despite property owner’s plea that he not be found in breach and not fined…

Builder fined despite property owner’s plea that he not be found in breach and not fined…

The Licensed Building Practitioners Board has found a builder guilty of failing to provide a record of work and fined him $1000.

The builder was engaged to carry out restricted building work on five residential properties. He provided a record of work to the main contractor but failed to provide a copy to the property owner or council.

The main contractor failed to hand over the record of work to the property owner due to a dispute over payment. The Board found that the builder had failed to provide a record of work to the property owner and Council. The provision of a record of work to the main contractor is not compliance with the requirement.

The property owner advised the Board that the main contractor had withheld the record of work and asked that the finding of a breach and fine be reversed, but the Board declined to do so.

The builder should not have relied on the main contract to hand over the record of work and he also failed to provide a copy to the council.

The board reduced its normal fine of $1500* to $1000 due to the circumstances, but said it would not reverse its decision on the breach as it did not want to encourage noncompliance with builders’ obligations to provide records of work when they finish work on a property.

* In another recent case the Board increased the starting point for a fine to $2000 because it was the third finding against a builder for failing to provide a record of work.