After Handover: Defects, Maintenance and the First Twelve Months

A Code Compliance Certificate is the council stating that, on the basis of the inspections it carried out, the completed work complies with the building consent it granted (Building Act 2004). That is a meaningful regulatory step and you need it, particularly for your lender and for any future sale. What it is not is a warranty, a quality assessment, or anybody’s opinion that the workmanship is good.

The distinction matters because people relax at CCC and assume the protection ends there. In fact your real protections are three separate things: the building contract, the warranties implied by the Building Act, and any guarantee you hold such as Master Builders or Certified Builders. The council sign-off sits alongside those rather than replacing them. Our guide to the consent process covers how CCC is reached.

It is the most useful protection most homeowners do not know they have. Under the Building Act, if you notify your builder of a defect within twelve months of the building work being completed, the builder is required to remedy it. Critically, during that period the onus sits with the builder to show the work was not defective, rather than with you to prove that it was (MBIE). After twelve months the implied warranties still apply and there is a ten-year longstop for bringing a claim, but the burden of proof shifts to you.

The practical consequence is simple: walk your home deliberately in the first year and report anything you find, in writing, while the onus is still where it helps you most.

Both happen, and telling them apart keeps the relationship healthy. A defect is work that does not meet the contract, the plans or the Building Code: a door that was never adjusted properly, a leak, joinery that was not installed as specified. Normal first-year movement is different. A new home dries out, timber shrinks slightly, and you get fine cracking at plasterboard joints, small gaps opening at skirtings and architraves, and doors that need a seasonal adjustment as humidity changes.

Report both anyway. Put the settling items on the list too, so they are on record and can be dealt with in a first-year touch-up rather than argued about later. A builder who expects that conversation will have planned for it; we treat the first-year visit as part of the job rather than an imposition.

The ordinary things, and they matter more than people assume because guarantees often depend on them. Gutters and downpipes cleared. Cladding washed where the manufacturer specifies it, particularly in coastal environments where salt accumulates. Ventilation filters changed on schedule. Seals, flashings and drainage checked. Decks and exterior finishes maintained per the specification.

Master Builders and Certified Builders guarantees, and most product warranties on roofing, cladding and joinery, assume that specified maintenance has been carried out. Keep a simple record, a note of what you did and when, because a claim is far easier to make when you can show the house was looked after. Coastal owners should read this alongside building a holiday home, where the maintenance stakes are higher because nobody is there to notice.

In writing, promptly, with photographs and a plain description of what you are seeing and where. Not because anyone expects a fight, but because a written record gives the builder something specific to act on and protects you if memories differ a year later. Batch minor items into a list rather than sending them one at a time, and flag anything urgent, particularly water, immediately rather than waiting for the list.

At handover, make sure you leave with the Code Compliance Certificate, guarantee documentation, product warranties and manuals, as-built information where relevant, a written maintenance schedule, and a clear answer to who you contact about defects and how. Ask for it as a package. A builder who hands that over without being chased is telling you something reassuring about how the next twelve months will go, which is part of what the questions to ask before you sign is designed to surface early.

Code Compliance is the council confirming the work matches its consent, not a quality guarantee. Your strongest protection is the twelve-month period after completion, when notified defects must be remedied and the onus sits with the builder, with a ten-year longstop behind it. Walk the house deliberately in that first year, report in writing, and expect some normal drying and settling alongside any genuine defects.

Do your side of the maintenance and keep a record of it, because guarantees assume it. If you are building with us in Nelson Tasman, the first-year check is something we plan for rather than something you have to chase, and we would rather hear about a small thing early than a large one late.