Completing your repairs

This information is for Canterbury homeowners who have agreed an ex gratia settlement with the Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tū Ake (NHC) under the Government’s On-sold support package.  

It covers all the important things you need to know or do during the post-settlement phase, including receiving your payment and undertaking your repairs or rebuild, ensuring repairs are completed to the standard set out in the Earthquake Commission Act 1993 (the EQC Act), closing your application and what to do if you have concerns about your builder or the standard of repairs. 

Post-settlement: receiving payment and undertaking your repairs

Once you have received your approved consent documentation from your local council (if applicable), please provide this to your settlement specialist, along with the intended start date of your project.  

This date will need to be re-confirmed once your project has started.  

It’s important that you keep us aware of key information, such as project timeframes, so that we can continue supporting your repair progress and ensure your ex gratia payments are there when you need them.  

If circumstances change regarding your repair or rebuild, please update your settlement specialist as soon as possible. 

If you feel unable to manage the repair process yourself or would like professional advice, we recommend you talk to your settlement specialist about your circumstances and options.

Starting your repairs or rebuild

Receiving your payment

Payments are made in instalments from your overall On-sold settlement. They’re made at your request once the conditions of each payment have been met. These conditions are outlined in your Settlement Deed. 

Any entitlement you have under the EQC Act will be paid separately.  

Any payment you receive must be used for repairing or replacing damaged property. Any funds not used for this purpose may be recovered.

Variations to your agreed works

All agreed works must be completed as outlined in your signed Settlement Deed. This is the scope of works. 

A change to the scope of works is called a variation. You need to ask for a variation in writing. 

This must be approved before the work takes place. When we review variation requests we consider several factors including: 

• if the work is related to earthquake damage 
• whether the work should have been considered in the scoping and quoting stage 
• whether the costs are fair and reasonable.

We want people to live in safe homes

We recommend you review your build contract and discuss key milestones, such as progress payments and key handovers, with your builder before the work starts. This is to ensure you both agree to the terms of these milestones.  

All repairs must be completed to the standard required under the EQC Act, which was the legislation in place at the time of the Canterbury earthquakes. This means that repairs must replace or reinstate the building to a condition substantially the same as, but not better or more extensive than, its condition when it was new. Repairs must also comply with current building legislation.  

You’re responsible for working with your builder to make sure repairs are completed to this standard. You’ll need to ensure you are satisfied with the quality of their work and that the repairs comply with council regulations and other laws.  

NHC may require access to your property at certain stages of your repair or rebuild to review progress. These site visits will help NHC to confirm the stage you are at so that tranche payments are released to you at the right time. 

If you have concerns about the work on your home

If you have concerns about the standard of work on your property, or any issues with your builder or other parties you’ve engaged, you should raise your concerns with them directly. The Licensed Building Practitioner(external link) and Building Performance(external link) websites have helpful guides on how to do this. 

You can also find out more about consumer protection measures and how to ensure there are no surprises between you and your builder in the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s (MBIE) booklet, Know your rights - A homeowner’s guide to the consumer protection measures(external link) when building or renovating.  

Here are some things to keep in mind to protect yourself as a homeowner:  

• Ensure you have a written contract with your builder so everyone understands their obligations, requirements and expectations.  
• Before you sign a contract, ask your builder to give you information about their skills, qualifications, licensing status and the insurance or guarantees they provide (it’s called a disclosure statement). Also ask for a checklist that outlines the stages of the build and how to protect yourself.  
• Once the building work has been completed, your builder must give you certain information or documents related to the building work. These include ongoing maintenance requirements, guarantees or warranties, and any ongoing insurance policies.  
• You have an automatic 12-month defect repair period when builders must fix any defects you’ve told them about in writing. Because the repair contract is between you and your builder, the On-sold support package does not cover you during this time.  
• You can take action for up to 10 years if warranties in the Building Act have not been met, even if they’re not in your contract (they’re called implied warranties).  
• Licensed builders can be fined if they don’t comply with the law. 

Completion: closing your application

Final tranche payment 

If your quote included any provisional sums and/or sub-contractor quotes, you will need to provide invoices to your settlement specialist before receiving the final payment.  

Once you have received your final payment from NHC, your application will be closed.  

Removing an encumbrance 

If you had an encumbrance lodged against your property title, the encumbrance will be removed once the agreed repair or rebuild has been completed and you’ve sent us the documentation confirming this.

This documentation includes Producer Statements signed by your builder and other experts engaged in the repairs, such as structural engineers, electricians and plumbers. These statements confirm work has been done in line with the design specifications and agreed works. Where the works require a building consent, the documentation will also need to include a Code of Compliance Certificate.  

You’ll need to instruct your own lawyer to manage the process for registering and removing the encumbrance with LINZ. We’ll cover the reasonable legal costs for registering and removing the encumbrance as part of the settlement payment.