Auckland Council has welcomed the findings of a report by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) on the safety of boarding houses across New Zealand.
MBIE’s ‘Operation Magazine’ initiative was launched following the Loafer’s Lodge fire in Wellington in May 2023, and involved inspections of 37 multi-storey boarding houses without sprinkler systems around the country.
Inspections of 14 buildings in the Auckland region were conducted by MBIE alongside representatives from Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) and Auckland Council’s Compliance unit. The inspections identified a number of issues around non-compliance with Building Warrant of Fitness (BWoF) requirements, fire safety systems and healthy homes standards.
Auckland Council Field Surveying Manager Jeff Fahrensohn says the report highlights a need for improved fire safety measures in short-term accommodation buildings around New Zealand, which is something the council has been working within its powers to improve.
“While fire safety ultimately is the responsibility of building owners, we are always looking at ways we can exercise the tools available to us to create safer environments for people to live,” he says.
“Tragedies like the Loafer’s Lodge fire highlight that transient accommodation buildings like boarding houses and backpackers are often higher risk, which is why the council began prioritising these buildings for BWoF audits last year, and will continue to audit them annually.”
Generally, all boarding houses where six or more people sleep are required to display a BWoF. This is an annual certificate issued by the building owner that shows certain safety features in a building known as specified systems have been inspected by an Independent Qualified Person (IQP) and have performed as they should for the previous 12-month period.
Following the Loafer’s Lodge fire, the council identified 165 buildings with BWoFs in Tāmaki Makaurau used for transitional housing and carried out audits on all properties, beginning in May and completed in July 2023.
Mr Fahrensohn says the council’s building inspectors identified a range of issues around BWoF compliance during these audits and had been working with building owners and IQPs to address them.
“We are pleased that the vast majority of issues identified by MBIE during their Operation Magazine inspections in September had already been picked up during our audits, and enforcement procedures were underway,” he says.
“Regardless, we are aligned with MBIE on the fact that more can and should be done to improve fire safety in New Zealand buildings, and particularly those transient accommodation buildings where vulnerable residents are housed.”
He says the council is working closely with the IQP industry groups to provide owners the support and guidance where they see gaps in their knowledge and building management processes.
“It’s also important to know that we will be holding people to account if they do not take their responsibilities seriously and will not hesitate to enforce where necessary”.
Mr Fahrensohn would also like to see Building Act legislation amended to help reduce non-compliance by building owners and IQPs and hopes MBIE’s report will encourage the government to enact these changes.
“The previous government was in the process of reforming Building Act legislation by introducing and enhancing offences and penalties for building owners and IQPs, and we look forward to seeing these changes reflected in the Building Regulations by the current government,” he says.
“Ultimately, everybody deserves a safe place to live. There are many organisations and industry bodies with a role to play in fire safety, and we are committed to working with all parties to help prevent tragic accidents like Loafer’s Lodge fire from happening again.”
ENDS
Additional information on BWoFs:
- In any building, it is the responsibility of the building owner to ensure that appropriate fire prevention measures (including fire safety systems and evacuation procedures) are maintained.
- For buildings with certain fire safety systems (specified systems), owners must issue an annual Building Warrant of Fitness (BWoF) for the building and submit a copy of the BWoF to the local council. This is an annual certificate that proves all building safety systems are functional and operating effectively, without any risk to health and safety.
- As part of this process, the building owner must engage qualified professionals known as IQPs (Independent Qualified Professionals) to check the systems listed on the building’s compliance schedule are working properly.
- The council is not responsible for issuing BWoFs. The council’s role is to receive and maintain a record of BWoF documentation, including IQP reports, and to carry out audits to ensure the IQPs are doing their required inspections and reports correctly.
- There are around 17,000 buildings in the Auckland Region with BWoFs. At any one time, 8-10 of the council’s building inspectors are auditing buildings.
- The council aims to audit 20 per cent of the buildings with a BWoF each year. Higher-risk buildings are audited more frequently, with transient accommodation buildings audited annually from 2023.
- To achieve Auckland Council’s BWoF audit targets, five additional BWoF auditors were employed in late 2023.
- Separately to the BWoF regime, the council’s compliance unit has been running a proactive boarding house inspection programme since 2015, where visits to known or suspected boarding houses are conducted with partner agencies from Tenancy Services and FENZ. This council also investigates complaints about non-compliant or illegal boarding houses in Auckland.
Read more: Building Warrant of Fitness (BWoF) frequently asked questions
