Seymour: 'Loopy' fix has to be done properly

  • 23/09/2015
David Seymour (Simon Wong/3 News)
David Seymour (Simon Wong/3 News)

Builders could soon be signing off their own resource consents in an attempt to remove the middle man.

The changes follow the release of the Government's 'loopy rules' report, which claims there are too many rules and regulations holding people back.

Local Government Minister Paula Bennett told the Paul Henry programme it is about councils cutting red tape.

"You've got your building consent, you're doing your repairs on your house, [and if] you want to make a slight tweak to it, you've got to go all the way through the building and the resource consent process again," she says.

"That's not right. In some circumstances it should just be, 'OK, that's common sense, let's get on with it', and some councils do but others don't."

ACT leader David Seymour supports streamlining the law, but says it must be done properly to avoid another leaky homes fiasco.

"Any regulatory change that happens needs to be well-signalled, and done in such a way that the industry has time to adapt to it."

He supports the idea of builders self-certifying, as long as they pay a bond to councils first.

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