When lodging a building complaint at the Building Commission, State Administrative Tribunal or Law court it is important to identify the building defect, who did the work and also the resultant damage so that an adjudicator can make an informed decision.
We see many cases where a home owner lodges a complaint for a leaking shower for example and at a tribunal hearing nobody knows 1. Who is responsible for the defect (was it from expected settlement, has someone cracked a tile after the builder finished etc..)
2. Where the defect is and WHY it is a defect. (simply stating the shower is leaking does not go far enough to state why the shower is leaking. The adjudicator may ask - yes the shower leaks but where is the water coming from- A blocked drain, a leaking pipe, a cracked tile, poor waterproofing??
3. What needs to be done to rectify the defect. Does the entire shower need waterproofing, or does a drain simply need to be unblocked?
So often we hear of cases where the owners have submitted a notice of proposed compliant, or lodged a complaint at the SAT or law court stating:
"Bathroom Tiling work is poor"
"The back door doesn't work"
"The Roof leaks"
None of these descriptions allows a third party to understand what is going on, who is responsible to rectify the work, and what needs to be done to rectify the work.
An expert witness report from a qualified building consultant will identify why the tiling work is poor (eg lack of control joints, chipping, loose /drummy tiles) and why this is considered defective (eg contrary to the manufacturers installation requitement) and what needs to be done to fix it (eg remove the tiles and install movement joints) and who is responsible to fix it.
In this way an decision can be made about the responsible party, why the product or installation is faulty, why (if any) breach of the building code etc is enforceable and what needs to be done to rectify the defect.
When preparing your complaint form, detailed information contained within an expert witness report such as we can provide is required to enable proper investigation of the complaint. Where these details are not provided, the Building Commissioner may refuse to accept a complaint.
