Building Amendment Bill
This bill changes how building in New Zealand works in several ways. It shifts the rules around who pays when a building is defective — instead of one party paying everything, each party pays their share. It requires home warranties for bigger builds and insurance for designers. It makes it faster and easier to get consent for homes with solar panels or eco-friendly features. It also lets councils hand off their building consent work to other organisations more easily, and changes how building research is funded.
What this affects
Tap a topic to see how this bill touches it, and the parts of the text that show it.
People building or buying homes get new protections, including a warranty that must cover defects for at least a year and structural problems for 10 years on bigger residential builds.
mandatory residential home warranties for residential building work with a total value of $100,000 or more … that provide minimum coverage of at least 1 year for building work that is defective and 10 years for structural defects
Proportionate liability means that each person will be responsible for the share of loss corresponding to their contribution, but only for their share of the loss
For smaller residential builds, excluding or limiting liability relating to defective building project work will be prohibited
Progress through Parliament
Have your say
This bill is open for public submissions to the Transport and Infrastructure Committee. Anyone can tell the committee what they think, and you don’t need to be an expert. Submissions close 14 November 2026.
Bill text sourced from legislation.govt.nz (Parliamentary Counsel Office). Arapono’s summary and breakdown are drafted with AI grounded in that official text and reviewed by an Arapono editor for accuracy and neutrality before publishing. Arapono is non-partisan and takes no position on this bill.