Guarantee On Houses

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31081, 9 June 1966, Page 1

Guarantee On Houses

(N.Z. Press Association)

AUCKLAND, June 8. Auckland builders tonight gave, through their Master Builders’ Association, a guarantee against bad workmanship. It is believed to be the first such guarantee in the country and is designed to protect the home buyer. There are nearly 400 builders in the association which, under the guarantee, makes itself responsible for correcting any work that fails to meet accepted standards. Liability is limited to £750 and any property more than 12 months old does not qualify.

Launching the scheme, the president (Mr W. A. Lane) told a gathering of builders that the guarantee would help put an end to the “backyard unknown builder” with no qualifications for the job he professed to be able to perform. The Minister of Housing (Mr Fox) had promised to introduce a bill to protect the home buyer. Auckland was giving him, and the rest of the country, a lead. The guarantee scheme wifi come into force tomorrow. Complaints by house owners will be investigated by an in-

dependent arbitrator. If they are upheld the builder will have to make amends. If he refuses to do so, the association would engage another builder to do the work then sue the original builder for damages, said the chairman of the guarantee committee (Mr D. C. Carrington). Mr R. C. F. Savory, a former president of the association and present chairman of the Auckland Harbour Board, said the scheme was “a very courageous thing” and represented a “tremendous milestone in the building industry.”