Regulation 7(2)(h) – Receiving and managing complaints about building control functions
Last updated: 10 April 2017
MBIE’s guidance on meeting the accreditation requirement
Regulation 7(2)(h) of the Building (Accreditation of Building Consent Authorities) Regulations 2006 (the Regulations) must be read in conjunction with regulations 5 and 6.
The policies and procedures required by regulation 7 must be written and/or electronic, and appropriate for purpose.
A Building Consent Authority (BCA) must ensure that the policies, procedures and system required by regulation 7 are consistently and effectively implemented. BCAs must ensure they record the decisions they make under regulation 7, including the reasons for the decisions, as well as the outcomes.
Checklist for regulation 7(2)(h) outlines the minimum criteria for compliance.
A BCA must have a policy and procedure for managing complaints about its building control functions that, at minimum, covers the requirements detailed below. If the requirements are met through a BCA’s parent organisation’s complaints policy and procedure, the accreditation body will require access to it for the purposes of an accreditation assessment.
A BCA’s complaint policy must be publicly available and accessible to applicants.
A BCA must have a nominated person responsible for the consistent and effective functioning of the complaint process.
The complaint policy and procedure must:
- have service standards for acknowledging, considering and responding to complaints
- ensure appropriate levels of objectivity and fairness to all parties
- enable complaints to be prioritised
- provide for any required remedies proportionate to the issues raised
- complaints should be systematically and accurately logged and tracked.
It is good practice for complaints to be systematically reported on, and analysed, to identify any systemic or emerging issues, or other opportunities to improve outcomes for all parties to a complaint. Effectively using the complaint system to identify issues and opportunities may support a BCA to comply with regulation 17(2)(e).
A BCA may also choose to put in place a policy, procedure and system for managing unreasonable complainant conduct as part of its system if useful or necessary.
The Managing unreasonable complainant conduct guide is available from the Office of the Ombudsman.