Homeowners’ entitlements regarding residential building work under the Building Act 2004

28 Oct 2025

All ‘residential building contracts’ (defined by the Building Act 2004) are subject to a series of implied warranties, imposed by the Act. Both builders and homeowners should understand what these warranties are, what the applicable time periods for relevant claims are and what to do if the warranties are not being complied with.

Briefly, these warranties promise to a homeowner that the builder’s works:

• Will be completed to a certain standard (including in accordance with applicable laws and the relevant building consent);
• Will make use of new, appropriate building products (unless agreed otherwise);
• Will be completed within the agreed (or a reasonable) timeframe, and
• That on completion of the works, the dwelling will be fit for occupation.

Benefits granted by the implied warranties

For the first 12 months following completion of residential building work, the builder (which is usually the building company that contracted with the homeowner for the building work) is obligated to remedy any defects which the homeowner notifies it of in writing. Those remedial works must be completed within a reasonable time of the builder being notified of the defect and at the builder’s cost.

For 10 years following completion of the building work, if a homeowner becomes aware of a breach of the implied warranties, they may notify the builder of that breach and require the builder to remedy it. Most often, a breach presents as a defect in the work, which is remedied by the builder carrying out remedial works. Like the initial 12-month defect notification period, the builder is again obliged to remedy the breach of the warranty at its own cost and within a reasonable time of receiving notice.

The final four years of that 10-year period operate differently to the first six years, in terms of which breaches a homeowner may require a builder to remedy. During this final, four-year period, a homeowner must be able to show that they only became aware of the relevant breaches ‘recently’ (i.e. within 3 years of bringing a claim) and could not have reasonably been aware of them earlier.

Who is entitled to benefit from warranties?

If a builder is liable to remedy a defect or breach of warranty and refuses or fails to do so, the homeowner is entitled under the Act to engage another builder to do so and then recover the associated costs from the original builder.

A claim for those costs may be brought in a range of forums including the Disputes Tribunal, the Courts or by adjudication or arbitration (if the homeowner originally contracted with the builder).

Finally, these warranties are not only available to the original homeowner who contracted with the builder; subsequent owners of that same property may rely on those same warranties for a period of up to 10 years following the original building work.

If you are a builder being asked to remedy work you don’t consider you are responsible for, or a homeowner who has discovered defective building work completed within the last 10 years, contact Martelli McKegg's Construction Law team to discuss your possible claims or entitlements.