Building under ‘granny flat’ rules? Be wary of rogue builders

Eight people have applied to build granny flats in Nelson since new legislation took effect at the beginning of the year.

But while numbers are small so far, Nelson City councillors have expressed concerns about the likelihood of homeowners falling foul of rogue builders under the new rules.

Now, following a workshop on the changes, the council is looking at ways to make sure homeowners make informed decisions — and indicated they’d consider dobbing in builders they’re aware are doing sub-par work.

Under law changes that came into effect in January, homeowners could build standalone dwellings of up to 70m² without needing a full building consent.

Councils still needed to be notified and the dwellings had to meet the Building Code and be built — and certified — by licensed professionals.

At the small standalone dwelling workshop on Wednesday, city councillors grilled staff on the implications of the legislation and the potential risks to the council.

Manager of building Mark Hunter told councillors the law change effectively removed councils from the process.

“The intent was to take the responsibility away from council and place it squarely on the homeowner.”

But council chief executive Nigel Philpott asked whether that meant people misunderstand the rules, and just “get on with it”.

That was a risk, head of regulatory services manager Mandy Bishop said.

Hunter said that before a homeowner could start building, they had to apply to the council for a Project Information Memorandum (PIM) that showed the project met the exemption criteria.

Once that was issued, a homeowner could start building using a licensed builder, who at the end of the process would certify the building met the building code. That certificate would be lodged with council and put on the property file.

Beyond that, the council was not involved, he said.

“We don’t approve the plans and we don’t inspect the build … council is hands off.”

Councillor Mel Courtney questioned if that meant it would be a “cowboy picnic”.

But councillor Kahu Paki Paki said if builders were properly licensed they should be trusted.

Hunter said he understood both views, but as a former builder he had been shocked at the quality of the work some builders produced.

“The standard that some people work to is abysmal.”

Many trades people were very good at their job, but there were some you couldn’t trust, he said.

“And that’s the problem”.

Many “dodgy” builders relied on the council to audit their work during inspections, but under the exemption scheme no-one would be enforcing that, he said.

Mayor Nick Smith questioned whether the council should “dob in” incompetent builders when they came to the council’s attention.

“Do we have a community responsibility?”

Hunter said they did.

“That is something we intend to do.”

But, he warned that because the council wouldn’t be involved, they wouldn’t necessarily know about building issues.

“We’re not going to find out a lot of this stuff until way down the track because we have no involvement.”

If complaints were raised the council would store the information, but would only act if it was unsanitary of unsafe, he said.

Councillor Nigel Skeggs said he was worried about the risk, because there seemed to be little understanding of what was required in the community.

“What is our biggest risk and council and councillors? Is it going to be put on us?”

Hunter said it would eventually fall back to council, because the expectation was that council would deal with it, but unless it was dangerous or unsanitary “we don’t want to be involved”.

The general direction around the table was that the council should play a part in educating the public about the need to find a trustworthy trades person and to follow the process correctly.

“It’s worth our while educating the public on this, because we’re going to pick up the pieces if we don’t,” Philpott said.

Councillors were told the cost of an exemption would be about $1000, compared to about $5000 for a building consent.

By Katie Townshend, Nelson Mail