On 9 May 2012 the Supreme Court released its much awaited decision in McNamara v Auckland City Council [2012] NZSC 34. The McNamaras bought a leaky home in 2004 for which Approved Building Certifiers Ltd had issued the code compliance certificate in circumstances where it was not authorised/able to do so. ABC went into liquidation and there were not other solvent parties available to pay the costs to fix the leaky home. So, the McNamaras sued the Auckland City Council alleging that it was liable for ABC issuing the code compliance certificate when ABC was not authorised to do so. The Court by a 4 to 1 majority decided that the Council could not be liable. It was entitled to rely on the integrity of the code issued by ABC under s50(1)(a) of the Building Act 1991 and could not be sued by reason of s50(3). This decision severely limits the ability of leaky home owners to sue the Council where inspection/certificati0n was performed by a certifier.
Tags: Leaky Building, Leaky Home