Bringing a claim

You can start your claim by completing the relevant claim application form on this site.

Regardless of whether a homeowner lodges a claim to access the proposed financial assistance package or opts to use the Weathertight Homes Tribunal, there are two processes: assessment and resolution.

Assessment

• A claim is allocated to a claims advisor who will establish whether the claim is capable of meeting the eligibility criteria.
• If your claim is accepted, we will appoint an expert assessor to investigate the house or complex and provide a report to us. The claimant can choose between two kinds of report, which will be explained to them.
  1. A full assessor’s report costs $500 for a stand-alone property or single unit claim, $1000 for a duplex (2 units) or $1500 for a multi-unit complex.
  2. An eligibility assessor’s report is free of charge.
• Following the assessment, the Chief Executive of the Department of Building and Housing will decide whether the claim is eligible to proceed to the next resolution stage. If in the assessor’s opinion the claim is ineligible, the claimant will be given a chance to make a submission to the Chief Executive on eligibility before a decision is made (see Guidelines for claimant submissions).
• If the Chief Executive decides that the claim is ineligible and the claimant disagrees with the decision, they can appeal to the Chair of the Weathertight Homes Tribunal to have their claim eligibility reconsidered.

Resolution

• The aim is to establish who is liable for the damage and what compensation they should make.
• During this process the claimant makes claims against parties they think are responsible for their loss (for example, damage to their house or complex).
• The resolution process may involve negotiation, mediation or adjudication.
• There are two separate resolution paths available depending on the value of the claim:
  1. The lower-value claims process, for those claims where the estimated or actual repairs costs are $20,000 or less, and;
  2. The standard claims process for all other claims.

The claim is resolved when a solution is agreed by those involved.

Claimants may choose to undertake repairs at any point of the claims process. Repairing the house before proceeding to resolution allows the claimant to rely on receipts for the actual cost of repairs in their claim. See the section on repairs and maintenance for more details.

To bring a claim, the:

• claim must be brought by the owner(s) of the house
• house must be used principally for residential purposes
• house must have been built or altered within the 10 years immediately preceding the date of lodging the claim
• house must be or have been leaking (water is entering the house from outside)
• house must be damaged as a result of the leaks.

Claimants living in multi-unit complexes have slightly different eligibility criteria. Details are outlined in the section on claims for multi-unit complexes.

If you think your home may be affected by weathertightness problems, you can download a claim form for assessment and send it to us in hard copy or email. Alternatively, you can call 0800 324 477 to request a claim form. There are three claim forms, the diagram below will show you which is the right one for you.

Choosing an application form for a claim

If your property is on a freehold title (not on a cross-lease title, unit title or company-share licence) use the stand-alone house application form. If the property is not on a freehold title and there are common areas affected by leaking use the multi-unit complex application form. If there are no common areas affected by leaking and the claim is for a stand-alone house use the stand-alone complex application form. If you are unsure, or if your property does not fit any of these circumstances, call us on 0800 324 477 to discuss which form to use.

What remedies may be claimed

A claim may be for any remedy that could be claimed in a court of law for:

• the entry of water into the building(s) concerned
• damage or loss of value caused by the entry of water into the building(s)
• loss of value caused by the fact that the building(s) is not weathertight
• making the building(s) weathertight in relation to the defects that enabled the entry of water into the building(s)
• making the building(s) weathertight in relation to the defects that are likely to enable the entry of water into the building(s) in future.

If a claimant applies to the Tribunal they must pay their own costs and expenses relating to making the claim unless the Tribunal considers that a party has caused these costs and expenses to be incurred unnecessarily by bad faith or allegations that are without substantial merit.

The claimant’s role in the process

The claimant will make all decisions about which options to take during the process. They will also need to decide which parties to make the claim against and why.

We can inform the claimant about their options and the process. However, they may wish to consider other people who can help them. This could be a family member, friend, building expert or a lawyer to support the claimant and help them understand their case.

The aim of the process is to get the house or complex repaired as soon as possible. It is not fair to the claimant or the other parties involved for the process to be unnecessarily drawn out.

The claim on council records

We are required under the Weathertight Homes Resolution Services Act to notify the territorial authority when:

• a claim is brought
• the claim is decided to be eligible or ineligible
• the claim is resolved or closed.

The council is required to record this notification in its property file on the house or complex, which is publicly accessible.

Most claim information held by the Department of Building and Housing is also subject to the Official Information Act 1982. If the Department receives a request for information, it is assessed according to that Act and we may have to release information about the claim.

Length of time for process

Each claim is different, so it’s not possible to say exactly how long the process will take.

The main things that affect how long a claim may take are:

• the type of assessment report the claimant chooses
• the resolution process the claimant decides to follow
• how willing and/or how available other parties are to take part in negotiation, mediation or adjudication.
• Also, the law requires some steps in the process to take a set period of time, to make sure all parties are treated fairly.

Keep us informed

So we can provide claimants with the best assistance, it is important that they inform us of any relevant changes in their situation such as if they undertake repairs, pursue their claim through other resolution options or sell their house or unit. If the claimant sells their house we must close their claim.

Claims closed when not enough effort made to resolve them

It is important that leaky homes are repaired as quickly as possible. For this reason, the Department of Building and Housing may close a claim if we feel the claimant is not making enough effort to resolve the claim and there is no valid reason for this. Once the claim is closed, the claimant cannot bring a new claim for the same property. We understand that circumstances may mean that we are unable to contact the claimant, so claimants should let us know of any extended absences.