New Zealand has introduced new building industry legislation being the Construction Contracts Act 2004 which introduces a number of significant changes into the way building contracts are entered into and the way any possible disputes will be resolved according to it.

A fair over view of this area is that there are a large number of precise technical issues which need to be addressed at the time they arise. It is fair to say therefore that in the absence of informed advice at the point a contract is entered into or a variation of contract is considered, then there is a significant risk that significant losses can arise from a failure to pay attention to detail.

A common area which arises is if a consumer is unhappy with a builder, can they immediately cancel the contract or is there a particular procedure that needs to be gone through? The answer is yes.

Equally if a consumer is having a builder build a house and has not made the final payments due under the contract, can they move in to the building anyway? The answer is, not without significant contractual and other difficulties set out under the Building Act 2004.