An Auckland developer was convicted of breaching their Resource Consent and fined almost $50,000. Site run off is a common example of a Resource Management Act breach. Statutory liability insurance no longer covers RMA fines.
In this case of a contract works insurance claim for storm damage the Court held that the insurers were liable for the remedial work to fix the damage, even though the same work was required to fix defective work.
In a recent case the Court of Appeal found that builders who assume responsibility for construction are, like Councils and developers, generally subject to a legal duty to ensure compliance with the Building Code, even if they have delegated the work to subcontractors. The Building Act already makes this clear for residential building work and builders can’t contract out of it.
