The compliance schedule: what it lists, and how to keep a building to it

01

What a compliance schedule is, and where the duty comes from

A compliance schedule is a document the council issues for a building that contains one or more specified systems: the safety and essential systems, mostly life-safety systems, that must keep working for the building to be safe to enter, occupy or work in. The duty sits in the Building Act 2004. Section 100 requires a compliance schedule for any building containing a specified system, except a single household unit, and section 101 requires the owner of such a building to obtain one. Since 31 March 2008 a building with a cable car attached to it or serving it needs a schedule for the cable car, even if it is a house.

MBIE describes the schedule on its page Specified systems and compliance schedules as the document that lists the building's specified systems, their performance standards and the inspection, maintenance and reporting procedures needed to keep them in good order, so that they continue to perform as was intended when they were installed.

MBIE's Compliance Schedule Handbook (first edition, amendment 3, effective from 14 February 2014) sets out the requirements of section 103 of the Act, which says what the schedule must state:

• the specified systems it covers;
• the performance standards for those systems;
• the inspection, maintenance and reporting procedures to be followed for each one;
• which of the specified systems relate to means of escape from fire, safety barriers, access and facilities for people with disabilities, hand-held hose reels for firefighting, and any signs required by the Building Code or section 120 of the Act.

The schedule is not a statement that the systems work. It is the programme the owner has to follow. The proof that the programme was followed is the annual building warrant of fitness (BWoF), which the owner or their agent signs, displays in the building and supplies to the council on each anniversary of the schedule's issue.

02

Which buildings need one, and what it lists

A building needs a compliance schedule if it contains any of the specified systems listed in Schedule 1 of the Building (Specified Systems, Change the Use, and Earthquake-prone Buildings) Regulations 2005, or a cable car under section 100 of the Act. The handbook numbers them SS 1 to SS 16:

• SS 1 automatic systems for fire suppression, such as sprinklers;
• SS 2 automatic or manual emergency warning systems for fire or other dangers;
• SS 3 electromagnetic or automatic doors or windows, including access-controlled doors and doors that close when the fire alarm operates;
• SS 4 emergency lighting systems;
• SS 5 escape route pressurisation systems;
• SS 6 riser mains for use by fire services;
• SS 7 automatic backflow preventers connected to a potable water supply;
• SS 8 lifts, escalators, travelators and other systems for moving people or goods;
• SS 9 mechanical ventilation or air-conditioning systems;
• SS 10 building maintenance units providing access to exterior and interior walls of buildings;
• SS 11 laboratory fume cupboards;
• SS 12 audio loops or other assistive listening systems;
• SS 13 smoke control systems;
• SS 14 emergency power systems for, or signs relating to, any of SS 1 to SS 13;
• SS 15 other fire safety systems and features: systems for communicating spoken information intended to facilitate evacuation, final exits, fire separations, signs for communicating information intended to facilitate evacuation, and smoke separations, where they form part of a means of escape from fire that contains one or more of SS 1 to SS 6, SS 9 or SS 13;
• SS 16 cable cars.

The handbook is clear that a schedule must be specific to the building: issuing generic inspection and maintenance procedures for, say, a "smoke control system", when there are varying types, would in its word be meaningless. For each system it recommends a reference number, a description of the system, its purpose, location and extent, and references to the consent drawings where they help. It then covers inspection, maintenance, reporting and recording, and responsibility.

The performance standard is not defined in the Act. The handbook reads it as the level of performance a system was intended to meet, and to keep meeting, when it was designed and installed: for a sprinkler system, for example, the level required by NZS 4541. A schedule does not have to be updated each time a newer standard is published, and MBIE's guidance for owners adds that the BWoF process is not a trigger to upgrade a system. Procedures usually point to a standard or the manufacturer's documents, and the handbook asks that the relevant clauses and versions be stated on the schedule.

03

How a schedule is issued, displayed and changed

For a new building, the building consent authority issues the compliance schedule with the code compliance certificate once it is satisfied that the work complies. The building consent application describes each specified system and proposes its procedures, and the consent states whether a schedule will be needed. Where the consent authority issues the schedule, it must give the territorial authority a copy within five working days.

With the schedule comes a compliance schedule statement (Form 10 of the Building (Forms) Regulations 2004). It is a temporary public notice of which specified systems the building has and where the schedule is kept; it says nothing about whether they work. The owner must display it in a public part of the building, usually the foyer or ground-floor reception, for the first 12 months. After that it is replaced by the first BWoF.

A schedule changes over the life of a building, and MBIE's page on amendments to compliance schedules tells owners they will most likely need one at some stage. There are two routes:

• Through a building consent, when building work will alter an existing specified system, add a new one or remove one. Replacing hinged entrance doors with automatic sliding doors, upgrading a sprinkler system or adding smoke detectors are MBIE's examples. The amended schedule is issued with the code compliance certificate.
• On application to the council, when the owner asks for a change for any reason, when an independent qualified person (IQP) recommends one so that the systems will meet their performance standards, or when the council decides one is needed. An owner's application is made on Form 11. The council must consult the owner before it decides, although it can amend without the owner's agreement.

An amendment changes the existing compliance schedule but does not move the anniversary. The BWoF is still due on the anniversary of the original schedule, and the Form 12A for a new or altered system covers the time it has been installed.

04

Who does which checks, and how often

The responsibility is the owner's. The handbook puts it under section 105 of the Act: the owner must make sure the inspection, maintenance and reporting procedures are carried out, and that each specified system keeps performing to its standard. An owner can authorise others to act for them, and in practice the work is often coordinated by a property manager, facilities manager or body corporate manager.

The technical work is done by independent qualified persons. MBIE's page on inspection and maintenance of specified systems describes an IQP as a person or firm approved by the council, independent in the sense of having no financial interest in the building. Councils keep a register showing which systems each IQP is competent to inspect. MBIE says most specified systems need at least an annual IQP inspection, and some are inspected more often, six-monthly or quarterly.

Not every check is an IQP's. MBIE says the owner may take on less complex and more frequent inspection tasks where the compliance schedule provides for it. The handbook's content guide shows what these look like, as minimums that apply where the nominated standard does not say otherwise:

• Final exits: daily when the building is in use for crowd occupancies, or where building work could affect an exit, and monthly for all other occupancies. The exit must open and not be locked, barred or blocked, and door locks must be clearly visible and easy to use without a key.
• Fire separations bounding exitways: a visual inspection for damage or deterioration that could weaken fire resistance, and for new penetrations that have not been fire-stopped, with a check that doors on the escape route open and are not locked, barred or blocked.
• Automatic doors: daily or monthly checks that they open and are not locked, barred or blocked, with the controller, sensors and safety devices left to the annual inspection.

MBIE's guidance for owners gives the same example: the daily and monthly inspections of final exits on escape routes can be done by the owner, tenant, contractor or agent, but the annual inspection must be by an IQP. Those checks are usually walked by whoever is in the building every day: a caretaker, a cleaning team at opening or a security officer on the lock-up patrol. The schedule should name who does each one.

The Building Act is not the only law in play. Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, WorkSafe's page on duties for specific businesses says a PCBU that manages or controls a workplace must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the workplace, how people enter and exit it, and anything arising from it are without health and safety risks. Several PCBUs can hold that duty at once in one building; see overlapping duties.

05

The records that sit behind the BWoF

The schedule's reporting procedures decide what has to be written down. The handbook summarises section 110 of the Act: the owner must obtain annual written reports on the inspection, maintenance and reporting procedures, signed by an IQP who carried out one or more of them, keep them for two years, and produce them when the council or anyone else with a right to inspect the building under any Act asks. The BWoF must say where those reports and the schedule are kept. MBIE's guidance for owners adds that the reports include the log books, meaning records of inspections by owner, tenant, maintenance and inspection staff, and test certificates.

Many schedules use the handbook's example recording statement, which asks the owner to keep records of all inspection, maintenance and repairs from the previous 24 months, including as a minimum:

• details of any inspection, test or preventative maintenance, with the date, work done, faults found, remedies applied and the person who did it;
• details of any other faults found and any maintenance or repair work, with the same particulars.

The handbook suggests that some records may be kept in a log book at the installation, with a summary kept with the schedule.

At the end of each year every IQP gives the owner a Form 12A, a certificate that the inspection, maintenance and reporting procedures for their systems have been fully complied with for the previous 12 months. It is one of the prescribed forms for building maintenance management. An IQP cannot issue one if procedures were missed, and the handbook says a Form 12A cannot be altered to create exceptions. So a monthly exit check that nobody recorded is not a small gap: it can stop the certificate the BWoF depends on.

The owner then signs the BWoF (Form 12), attaches every Form 12A and any IQP recommendation to amend the schedule, displays a copy where building users can see it, and supplies it to the council, which keeps these documents for the life of the building. Councils can also inspect buildings and check the records held with the schedule.

The penalties are on MBIE's page of fines and penalties, updated on 26 November 2024. An owner faces a fine of up to $20,000 for failing to obtain a compliance schedule, plus $2,000 for every day without one, and up to $20,000 for failing to supply or display a BWoF or for displaying a false or misleading one; councils can also issue instant fines of $250 to $1,000. Failing to comply with a notice to fix carries up to $200,000 and $20,000 a day. An IQP who falsely states that the procedures were followed faces up to $50,000, or $150,000 for a body corporate.

06

Where the record fails

The schedule rarely fails on paper; it fails between IQP visits. The monthly exit walk is ticked off on a sheet taped inside the riser cupboard, sometimes for the whole month at once. A cleaner finds a fire door wedged open or an exit sign out and tells whoever is at reception. When the IQP arrives to prepare the Form 12A, the log book has blank weeks.

SiteClara is built for that everyday part of the work. A tag at each final exit, fire door, exit sign or other check point on the schedule lets the person doing the walk scan it with their own phone and mark the check done, with a photograph when one is asked for. The record shows which point was checked, by whom and when, as it happened, and a check that was due and not done shows as not done rather than disappearing. A fault reported at the tag goes onto the list of jobs for the team responsible until someone closes it, and a daily report, reviewed by a supervisor, tells the building or facilities manager what was checked, what was missed and why, and what is still open.

07

Questions people ask

What is a compliance schedule application?

It can mean one of two things. For new work, MBIE's page on compliance schedules says applications for a building consent need to contain compliance schedule information for a new building with any specified systems, and for building work in an existing building that modifies or adds to its specified systems, which needs an amendment to the existing compliance schedule. For an existing building, MBIE's page on amendments to compliance schedules says the owner can apply to amend the schedule for any reason on Form 11, the owner's IQP or the council can seek an amendment so that the specified systems will perform to their performance standards, and the council must consult the owner before it makes a final decision.

Who issues a compliance schedule?

The council. MBIE's page on compliance schedules says a council issues a compliance schedule in its capacity as a building consent authority, and that councils also monitor the compliance schedule and building warrant of fitness regime and can charge a fee for their services.

What is a code compliance certificate in New Zealand?

It is the council's sign-off on consented building work. MBIE's page Get the build signed off says a code compliance certificate gives owners and future owners an assurance that the building work was done to the appropriate standards, making it safe, healthy and durable. The council has 20 working days from the application to decide whether to issue it, and if an owner has not applied within two years of the building consent being granted, the council will contact them and can inspect the site.

Is there a compliance schedule template?

Yes. MBIE publishes an exemplar compliance schedule, as a PDF and a Word document, which demonstrates the content a compliance schedule needs to satisfy section 103 of the Building Act 2004. There is no prescribed form for a compliance schedule; the exemplar is a template councils could use, and it satisfies the legislation only when completed with building-specific information about every installed specified system.

08

Where to read more, and a list to take away

MBIE's building.govt.nz section Managing your BWoF is the starting point for owners, with pages on specified systems, inspection and maintenance, amendments, the prescribed forms and penalties. Its page on owner responsibilities about BWoFs and compliance schedules links the guidance Owners' responsibilities to ensure their buildings are safe to use. The Compliance Schedule Handbook explains each specified system and the procedures that can be used for it. Your council keeps the IQP register; standards such as NZS 4541 are published by Standards New Zealand.

To keep a building to its compliance schedule, check that:

• you have the current schedule, including every amendment, and it is kept where the BWoF says it is;
• each system has an IQP engaged, and each IQP has the current version of the schedule;
• the routine checks the owner is responsible for, such as final exits and fire separations, are named, assigned and scheduled;
• each check leaves a dated record of who did it and what they found, including faults and how they were put right;
• faults found between IQP visits reach someone who will fix them, and the fix is recorded;
• Form 12As are requested well before the anniversary, and the BWoF is displayed and supplied to the council on time;
• reports, log books and certificates are kept for at least two years.