A building owner needs to renew a building’s warrant of fitness (BWOF) every 12 months, signing, issuing and publicly displaying it to prove the building’s life safety systems (called specified systems) have been maintained and inspected. Failure to do so becomes a breach of the Building Act 2004.
A BWOF is confirmation that the building’s specified systems have been inspected and maintained as required in the building’s compliance schedule.
Building Owners have obligations relating to the BWOF. Please visit www.building.govt.nz/managing-buildings/managing-your-bwof/
The BWOF must state that you have fully complied with the inspection, maintenance and reporting procedures of the compliance schedule for the previous 12 months. This information must be supplied on prescribed Form 12 of the Building (Forms) Regulations 2004. The form states the specific information that must be included and the order it needs to be included in.
The BWOF must be accompanied by a copy of each certificate issued by the IQP(s), called a Form 12A, that collectively covers all of the specified systems, along with any recommendations for amending the compliance schedule. An IQP is a person (or firm) approved by the territorial authority as qualified to inspect certain specified
UNDERSTANDING THE
BWoF PROCESS
systems and ensure that necessary maintenance occurs. “Independent” means they have no financial interest in the building.
Once all relevant documents have been received and collated, this will be submitted to the Territorial Authority (Auckland Council as an example) for processing and acceptance. You need to keep all records of inspection, maintenance and repairs undertaken for at least two years after they have been issued.
We provide a comprehensive service to provide all of the above legislative requirements.