BUILDING WORK CONTRACTORS ACT 1995 - SECT 32
BUILDING WORK CONTRACTORS ACT 1995 - SECT 32
(1) This section
applies to a contract entered into on or after 22 January 1987 1 .
(2) The following
warranties on the part of the building work contractor are implied in every
domestic building work contract:
(a) a
warranty that the building work will be performed in a proper manner to
accepted trade standards and in accordance with the plans and specifications
agreed to by the parties;
(b) a
warranty that all materials to be supplied by the contractor for use in the
building work will be good and proper;
(c) a
warranty that the building work will be performed in accordance with all
statutory requirements;
(d) if
the contract does not stipulate a period within which the building work must
be completed—a warranty that the building work will be performed with
reasonable diligence;
(e) if
the building work consists of the construction of a house—a warranty
that the house will be reasonably fit for human habitation;
(f) if
the building owner has expressly made known to the contractor, or an employee
or agent of the contractor, the particular purpose for which the building work
is required, or the result that the building owner desires the building work
to achieve, so as to show that the building owner relies on the contractor's
skill and judgment—a warranty that the building work and any materials
used in performing the building work will be reasonably fit for that purpose
or of such a nature and quality that they might reasonably be expected to
achieve that result.
(3) A person who has
purchased or otherwise acquired a house succeeds to the rights of the person's
predecessor in title in respect of statutory warranties.
(4) If a person has
purchased a house from a building work contractor who performed
domestic building work in relation to the house, the purchaser has rights
under statutory warranties as if the house had been purchased from a third
party for whom the vendor had performed the building work under a contract
subject to statutory warranties.
(5) Proceedings for
breach of a statutory warranty must be commenced within five years after
completion of the building work to which the proceedings relate.
(6) The period of
limitation prescribed by subsection (5) may not be extended.
(7) In proceedings for
breach of a statutory warranty, it is a defence for the defendant to prove
that the deficiencies of which the plaintiff complains arose from instructions
insisted on by the building owner contrary to the advice in writing of the
defendant.
Note—
1 22 January 1987 was the date of commencement of
the corresponding section of the repealed Builders Licensing Act 1986 .