Building compliance checklist: what a New Zealand building owner and PCBU must keep in order

01

Who is responsible for building compliance in New Zealand

There is no single building compliance law in New Zealand. Each duty comes from its own Act or regulations and lands on its own duty holder, which is why the gaps usually sit between people rather than inside one role. For a commercial, public or multi-unit building the main duty holders are:

• The building owner, under the Building Act 2004, for the compliance schedule and the annual building warrant of fitness (BWoF) wherever the building contains specified systems, and for any earthquake-prone building notice the council issues. MBIE's building regulator explains the owner's side in Managing your BWoF.
• The owner of a relevant building for fire evacuation, under the Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fire Safety, Evacuation Procedures, and Evacuation Schemes) Regulations 2018: providing and maintaining an evacuation scheme approved by Fire and Emergency.
• The PCBU (person conducting a business or undertaking) under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015. WorkSafe's page on duties for specific businesses says a business that manages or controls a workplace must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that "the workplace, how people enter and exit the workplace, and anything else that may arise from the workplace are without health and safety risks to people", and that fixtures, fittings and plant it manages or controls "don't create health and safety risks".
• Property managers, commercial tenants and bodies corporate, who WorkSafe's property management FAQs treat as PCBUs in their own right: a commercial property owner has a duty for "the health and safety of everyone involved with or affected by work on or at your property", and a property manager is responsible for "the management and control of the property".

In most buildings several of these PCBUs share the same duties at the same time: the owner, the property manager, the tenants and the contractors. WorkSafe's answer is that "you all must work together, so far as is reasonably practicable, by consulting, cooperating, and coordinating your activities". A lease can decide who does what, but cannot hand a legal duty away. A building compliance checklist is most useful when every line names who holds the duty, who does the work and who keeps the evidence. Our guide to overlapping duties covers how that coordination is usually agreed.

02

The building compliance checklist at a glance

Building compliance starts with the building work itself. The Building Code is contained in regulations under the Building Act, and MBIE's page on Building Code compliance says: "All building work in New Zealand must comply with the Building Code, even if it doesn't require a building consent." Where a building consent is needed, building consent authorities, usually the council, assess the plans and specifications before construction, and a design can show compliance through the Acceptable Solutions and Verification Methods or through an alternative solution. This checklist covers what follows: the legislation, documents and routine checks that keep an occupied building safe to use.

For a typical New Zealand office, school, shop, community facility or apartment block with common areas, the compliance picture covers:

1. Compliance schedule and BWoF: a compliance schedule issued by the council for every building with specified systems, the IQP inspections and routine checks it requires, a Form 12A for each system, and a BWoF supplied to the council and displayed every year.
2. Fire evacuation: an evacuation scheme approved by Fire and Emergency where the building needs one, kept up by trial evacuations or training, and clear, well-signed means of escape.
3. Workplace health and safety: the workplace, its entry and exit and its fixtures, fittings and plant kept without risks so far as is reasonably practicable, with a working way to identify and manage hazards and to notify WorkSafe of a notifiable event.
4. Workplace facilities, first aid and emergency plans: toilets, drinking water, hand-washing and break facilities, first aid equipment and first aiders, and an emergency plan that is tested.
5. Asbestos: in buildings built before 1 January 2000, asbestos identified and an asbestos management plan in place and reviewed.
6. Hazardous substances: an inventory of the cleaning chemicals, fuels and other substances held, and the controls that go with them.
7. Electrical and gas safety: installations and appliances kept safe, and nothing unsafe left in use.
8. Earthquake-prone buildings: where the council has issued an EPB notice, the notice displayed and the seismic work done by its deadline.
9. Records: reports, certificates, plans and logs kept where they can be found, with defects tracked until they are fixed.

Use it as the frame for your own register, not a complete list: the compliance schedule for your building, not a generic list, sets which specified systems it has and what each one needs.

03

The compliance schedule, specified systems and the BWoF

The Building Act is the part of New Zealand building compliance most specific to buildings. MBIE's page on specified systems and compliance schedules says: "All buildings (other than single residential buildings, unless they have a cable car) require a compliance schedule and annual BWoF if they contain" a specified system. It lists fifteen:

• SS1 automatic fire suppression, such as sprinklers;
• SS2 emergency warning systems;
• SS3 electromagnetic or automatic doors or windows;
• SS4 emergency lighting systems;
• SS5 escape route pressurisation systems;
• SS6 riser mains for use by fire services;
• SS7 automatic backflow preventers connected to a potable water supply;
• SS8 lifts, escalators and travelators;
• SS9 mechanical ventilation or air conditioning systems;
• SS10 building maintenance units;
• SS11 laboratory fume cupboards;
• SS12 audio loops and other assistive listening systems;
• SS13 smoke control systems;
• SS14 emergency power systems and signs;
• SS15 the features that form the means of escape.

For a new building, the council issues the compliance schedule with the code compliance certificate; for an existing building without one, the owner must apply for it. The schedule sets out, system by system, the inspection, maintenance and reporting procedures and who carries them out. Our guides to specified systems and the compliance schedule go into each in more detail.

The inspections are split. MBIE's page on inspection and maintenance of specified systems describes an IQP (independent qualified person) as "a person (or firm) approved by the territorial authority as qualified to inspect certain specified systems", and notes that owners may carry out "some less complex and more frequent inspection tasks" where the schedule allows. That is often the caretaker walking the escape routes. The same page says the owner "must obtain and keep reports detailing inspections, maintenance and repairs from the people who have carried out the work", and that they must be kept with the compliance schedule for at least two years.

Once a year the owner supplies the BWoF. MBIE describes it as "confirmation that the building's specified systems have been inspected, maintained and reported on as required in the building's compliance schedule". The owner must provide it to the council with the IQPs' Form 12A certificates attached, and display a copy publicly for the next twelve months, in a place such as the lobby, entry foyer or reception. See our guide to the building warrant of fitness.

04

Fire evacuation, workplace facilities and emergency plans

Evacuation schemes. Fire and Emergency's page on evacuation schemes says a scheme is needed for buildings "where 100 or more people can gather together; where 10 or more people work; where 6 or more people sleep, unless the building is made up of three or fewer household units", and for buildings used for early childhood education and care, medical, nursing, geriatric or disability care (unless the building is a household unit), as a prison or holding cells, or where certain levels of hazardous substances are stored. The owner of a relevant building must submit the proposed scheme to Fire and Emergency for approval, and the scheme must include a plan for keeping it up "by either trial evacuations or training". Some buildings with automatic sprinkler systems that meet one of the listed New Zealand Standards can be exempt once the owner notifies Fire and Emergency, but they must still have an evacuation procedure. See our guides to the fire evacuation scheme and the trial evacuation.

Workplace facilities and first aid. The Health and Safety at Work (General Risk and Workplace Management) Regulations 2016 set the basics. WorkSafe's guidance, General risk and workplace management, part 1, lists the facilities a PCBU must provide as "toilets, drinking water, hand-washing facilities, eating and break facilities, facilities for unwell workers to rest", and says workers must have access to first aid facilities, adequate first aid equipment and trained first aiders, set by the size and nature of the workplace.

Emergency plans. The same guidance says an emergency plan must cover "emergency procedures including an effective response to an emergency, evacuation procedures, procedures for notifying emergency services, medical treatment and assistance procedures, procedures to ensure effective communication", and that emergency plans "should be tested at least yearly" and kept up to date when the workplace changes.

Hazards and incidents. Our guides to the hazard register and notifiable events cover how a PCBU manages risks and tells WorkSafe of a notifiable event.

05

Asbestos, hazardous substances, electrical safety, earthquake-prone buildings and records

• Asbestos. WorkSafe's guidance on managing asbestos in your building or workplace, under the Health and Safety at Work (Asbestos) Regulations 2016, says "buildings built before 1 January 2000 are likely to contain asbestos material", and PCBUs who own or manage such buildings must identify it and have a written asbestos management plan. The plan covers "the identification and location of asbestos material", "decisions about how asbestos risks are managed and the reasons for these decisions" and "procedures for recording incidents or emergencies involving asbestos", and must be reviewed every five years or sooner when something changes, such as removal or disturbance. The asbestos register lists every identified or assumed asbestos material, with its location and condition.
• Hazardous substances. WorkSafe's hazardous substances pages apply the Health and Safety at Work (Hazardous Substances) Regulations 2017 and point to the Hazardous Substances Toolbox to "create an inventory and work out what key requirements you need to meet". See our guide to the hazardous substances inventory.
• Electrical safety. Under the Electricity (Safety) Regulations 2010, WorkSafe's page on who must comply with the electrical safety rules says: "Persons who own or operate works, supply networks, installations, fittings or appliances must not use or allow anyone to use them if they are unsafe." Whoever designs, does or supervises work on an installation must ensure the result is safe. Gas installations and appliances are covered by their own safety regulations.
• Earthquake-prone buildings. Where a council determines a building is earthquake prone, it issues an EPB notice. MBIE's leaflet Earthquake-prone buildings: notices says the owner must "ensure your EPB notice is attached in a prominent place on or adjacent to the building", tell the council if it comes off or becomes illegible, and follow the council's instructions about it; the notice states the deadline for seismic work. MBIE's earthquake-prone buildings pages note that the system "is changing on 1 July 2027", so check the current requirements for your address.

Where the evidence lives. Every item above produces something: a compliance schedule, IQP reports and Form 12As, a BWoF, an approved evacuation scheme and trial evacuation records, an emergency plan, an asbestos management plan and register, a hazardous substances inventory, electrical certificates, an EPB notice. The problem is rarely that it does not exist, but finding it when someone asks. A workable arrangement has:

• a compliance register listing each item, its duty holder, who does the work, how often, when it was last done and when it is next due;
• the compliance schedule, with the IQP reports and the owner's own inspection records kept with it for at least two years, as MBIE requires;
• each report's defects tracked to a named person and a date, and closed with evidence that the fix was made, not just filed;
• a clear line in each contract and lease on which PCBU does which routine check, so that a cleaner who finds a fault knows who it goes to;
• a review of the whole register at least once a year, ahead of the BWoF date.

06

Where the record fails, and what SiteClara does about it

The annual paperwork tends to be in order, because an IQP issues it and a council chases it. The weak point is the routine in between: the owner's own checks on the compliance schedule, the daily walk of the escape routes, the exit sign found dark, the fire door wedged open. These are the checks a Form 12A rests on, and the ones most often ticked off in bulk on a sheet inside the riser cupboard, if at all.

SiteClara records those routine checks where they happen. A printed QR poster at each location, with an NFC tag behind it if staff prefer to tap, lets the person on the round scan with their own phone, with no app to install, to mark a scheduled check done or say what stopped them, with a photograph when one is asked for. A fault found is reported at the same tag and goes onto the team's list of jobs until someone closes it. The supervisor sees what was due, what was done and what was missed, can record why a check was missed, and approves a daily report that goes to the building or facilities manager and nominated client contacts the next morning.

07

Questions people ask

What buildings require a compliance schedule?

Any building, other than a single house, that contains a specified system such as sprinklers, emergency lighting, lifts or mechanical ventilation. MBIE's page on specified systems and compliance schedules says: "All buildings (other than single residential buildings, unless they have a cable car) require a compliance schedule and annual BWoF if they contain" one, and a building with a cable car needs one even if it is a single house. The council issues the compliance schedule with the code compliance certificate for a new building; for an existing building without one, the owner must apply to the council.

Who issues a code compliance certificate?

The building consent authority that granted the building consent. MBIE's page on Building Code compliance says building consent authorities are "usually the council", and its guidance Get the build signed off says that if everything has been built according to the consented plans and meets the appropriate standards, "your council will confirm this by issuing a code compliance certificate", which gives "an assurance that the building work was done to the appropriate standards, making it safe, healthy and durable".

How long does it take to get a code compliance certificate in New Zealand?

MBIE's guidance Get the build signed off says: "The council has 20 working days from the date of your application to decide whether to issue a code compliance certificate." If the council needs more information, it puts the process on hold until the information is received, so a complete application is the quickest route.

08

Where to read more, and a list to take away

MBIE, the government's building regulator, publishes the owner's guidance on compliance schedules, specified systems, the BWoF and earthquake-prone buildings. Your council's building control team administers the compliance schedule and the BWoF, and approves the IQPs who inspect specified systems. Fire and Emergency New Zealand publishes the evacuation scheme requirements. WorkSafe publishes guidance on HSWA, workplace facilities, first aid and emergency plans, asbestos, hazardous substances and electrical safety.

To check your building compliance is in order:

• you know whether the building has specified systems, and the compliance schedule on file matches what is actually installed;
• the current BWoF is displayed where the public can see it, with the Form 12As behind it and the next due date in the diary;
• every routine check the schedule gives to the owner has a named person, a frequency and a record made at the time;
• the building has an approved evacuation scheme if it needs one, and the last trial evacuation or training is recorded;
• each PCBU in the building knows which duties it holds, and who it coordinates with;
• an asbestos management plan exists for a pre-2000 building, reviewed within five years;
• defects from IQP reports and daily walks are tracked until they are closed;
• the whole register is reviewed at least once a year, before the BWoF falls due.