Building Consent Authority Complaint Policy

1. This Council is registered and accredited to carry out work as a Building Consent Authority (BCA) and as such the BCA is required to have a BCA Complaints Policy.

2. The BCA is committed to the delivery of quality services to meet the needs of its customers in line with its responsibilities as a BCA and Council’s Mission and Vision.

3. The BCA welcomes feedback from customers as this provides opportunities for learning and improving services. We want to hear from you if you feel dissatisfied with any part of our service related to Building Consent processing or Inspection and issuing Code Compliance Certificates.

4. Learning from our mistakes is an important part of our continuous improvement. The BCA will always try to resolve complaints in a fair, timely and confidential manner in order to achieve positive outcomes for customers and staff. The Council BCA wants the opportunity to put matters right. 

5. Complaints that fall outside the scope of the responsibilities of a BCA will be passed to the Council for investigation and action. BCA complaints relate to an active building consent, specifically, after an application has been made and prior to receiving a code compliance certificate.

6. For the purposes of the BCA process, a complaint is defined when a customer informs the Council in writing that they are not happy with the:  standard of service they have received; and/ or failure of the Building Team to do something required by statute or that it had agreed to do (for example exceeding statutory timeframes for processing building consents or not meeting published service levels); and/or the way they have been treated. 

7. Some situations will not be considered under this process – for example complaints that constitute a disagreement with, or refusal to accept matters that the BCA is obliged or required by statute to apply; and a complaint where another formal process has been commenced.

8. If your issue is regarding a decision made by us about your building consent, please refer the matter to MBIE for a Determination. www.building.govt.nz/resolvingproblems/resolution-options/determinations/ 

9. Every effort will be made to resolve an issue as quickly as possible at the first point of contact. If the issue cannot be resolved at the first point of contact then it will be managed in accordance with this policy.

Refer also to Waikato Regional Council's Feedback & Complaints Policy

10. All complaints will be investigated and dealt with in confidence, consistent with the needs of the investigation. To enable the BCA’s policy and procedures to be adequately reviewed and revised, monitoring of compliance will be undertaken. The information will be used to monitor BCA performance, highlight areas of failure and feed into the continuous improvement process. 

11. The BCA will ensure that: Investigations will be undertaken in a way that ensures objectivity and fairness to all parties. Complaints will be prioritised according to risk and urgency.  Complaints will be responded to as quickly as possible by the most appropriate method.   Either a full response will be made within two working days, or an acknowledgement will be sent. If the issue needs more time we will let you know and keep you updated.  Remedies will be proportionate to the issues raised.  o Complaint records will be kept and will cover –  o details of the investigation,  o the outcome (e.g. whether the complaint is upheld, action taken, apology, or reason why the Council is unable to assist), and  o information on the right of further redress and escalation if the customer remains dissatisfied

Complaint records will be kept and will include –

• details of the investigation, 
• the outcome (e.g. whether the complaint is upheld, action taken, apology, or reason why the Council is unable to assist), and 
• information on the right of further redress and escalation if the customer remains dissatisfied