Description

Regarding the refusal to issue a code compliance certificate for a 19 year-old house with monolithic cladding at 11 Country Lane, Western Heights, Hamilton

Scope

This determination arises from the decision of the authority to refuse to issue a code compliance certificate for the 19-year-old house because it was not satisfied that the building work complied with certain clauses of the Building Code (First Schedule, Building Regulations 1992). The authority's concerns regarding compliance of the building work appear to relate to the age of the house and the weathertightness of its claddings; the authority did not provide its reasons for the refusal in writing to the applicant.

The matter to be determined is therefore whether the authority correctly exercised its powers of decision when it refused to issue the code compliance certificate. In deciding this, I must consider:

• Whether the external building envelope of the house complies with Clause B2 Durability and Clause E2 External Moisture of the Building Code. The building envelope includes the components of the systems (such as the brick veneer and monolithic claddings, the windows, the roof cladding, the deck and the flashings), as well as the way the components have been installed and work together. In this matter I have also included items identified by the authority during its inspection in 2000;
• Whether the building elements comply with Clause B2 Durability of the Building Code, taking into account the age of the house.