EQC Insurance

Conditional Building Consent Issues

Do you have a building consent issued subject to Section 74 of the Building Act 2004, Section 36(2) of the Building Act 1991 or Section 641(A) of the Local Government Act 1974?

If you do, there will be an entry on your certificate of title which indicates that the land within that certificate of title is likely to be subject to specified natural hazard/s.

Your local council will have required this entry to be placed on the certificate of title as a condition of consent for building work on your property. If you have any queries about the conditional consent and the entry on your title, you will need to talk to the council in question. The Earthquake Commission does not have any authority in relation to that entry or the consent conditions.

Implications for the Earthquake Commission's cover

The Earthquake Commission Act 1993 (Schedule 3, clause 3(d)) gives the Earthquake Commission a discretion to decline, or meet part only of, a claim where the certificate of title for the affected property contains such an entry. Whether the Earthquake Commission will actually decline part or all of a claim on this ground depends in part on the nature of the hazard and the natural disaster that may occur.

If you have any queries about your cover under the Earthquake Commission Act, please call our free phone number (for both land-line and mobile phones) on 0800 652 333. It will help us to answer your query if you find out from the Council the nature of the hazard specified on your title before you call the Commission.

In some instances private insurers provide cover for natural disaster damage beyond the maximum cover provided by the Earthquake Commission. An entry on your certificate of title subject to Section 74 of the Building Act 2004 or Section 36(2) of the Building Act 1991 may also affect that top-up insurance. We suggest that you contact your private insurer to find out whether this entry will affect your insurance with them.

Building Act 2004

72. Building consent for building on land subject to natural hazards must be granted in certain cases-

Despite section 71, a building consent authority must grant a building consent if the building consent authority considers that-

  1. the building work to which an application for a building consent relates will not accelerate, worsen, or result in a natural hazard on the land on which the building work is to be carried out or any other property; and
  2. the land is subject or is likely to be subject to 1 or more natural hazards; and
  3. it is reasonable to grant a waiver or modification of the building code in respect of the natural hazard concerned.

73. Conditions on building consents granted under section 72-

  1. A building consent authority that grants a building consent under section 72 must include, as a condition of the consent, that the building consent authority will, on issuing the consent, notify the consent to,-
    1. in the case of an application made by, or on behalf of, the Crown, the appropriate Minister and the Surveyor-General; and
    2. in the case of an application made by, or on behalf of, the owners of Māori land, the Registrar of the Māori Land Court; and
    3. in any other case, the Registrar-General of Land.
  2. The notification under subsection (1)(a) or (b) must be accompanied by a copy of the project information memorandum that relates to the building consent in question.
  3. The notification under subsection (1)(c) must identify the natural hazard concerned.

74. Steps after notification-

  1. On receiving a notification under section 73,-
    1. the Surveyor-General or the Registrar of the Māori Land Court, as the case may be, must enter in his or her records the particulars of the notification together with a copy of the project information memorandum that accompanied the notification:
    2. the Registrar-General of Land must record, as an entry on the certificate of title to the land on which the building work is carried out,-
      1. that a building consent has been granted under section 72; and
      2. particulars that identify the natural hazard concerned.
  2. If an entry has been recorded on a duplicate of the certificate of title referred to in subsection (1)(b) under section 641A of the Local Government Act 1974 or section 36 of the former Act, the Registrar-General of Land does not need to record another entry on the duplicate.
  3. Subsection (4) applies if a building consent authority determines that any of the following entries is no longer required:
    1. an entry referred to in subsection (1)(b):
    2. an entry under section 641A of the Local Government Act 1974:
    3. an entry under section 36 of the former Act.

Earthquake Commission Act 1993 - Third Schedule

3.     Circumstances where Commission may decline 
     claim-

The Commission may decline (or meet part only of) a claim  made under any insurance of any property under this Act where

...

(d) The certificate of title for the land comprising the property, or on which the property is situated contains an entry under section 36(2) of the Building Act 1991 [or an entry under section 74 of the Building Act 2004]; or...

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