Holiday Home Nightmare

“NHBRC doesn’t protect the home owner or is it simply another quasar government entity which fails to deliver, perform or resolve disputes as is required under legislation."



When dealing with the legal issues that case study is important in analysing the pitfalls and advantages of engaging in a certain matter.

The case study at hand we address the issue of a person who has brought a home, Mr X who has accounted a number of problems with the builder who they hired to construct their dream home.



While everyone is under the impression that once you have worked hard and accumulated enough money to have the perfect home to which under your own perception, believe to be a comfortable amount to get not only exactly what you want but further that the quality that you pay for will be of a higher standard given the price.



Mr X however engaged the services of Ricky Bobby Builders CC to construct his dream home which was situated in Midrand Gauteng. The project kicked off smoothly with Ricky Bobby Builders CC owned by Mr Ricky Bobby, giving Mr X confidence and various assurances that the project will run smoothly and end in August 2009.



After a number of months it became clear that the original amount which Ricky Bobby had quoted Mr X was very quickly being depleted insofar as invoices provided and issued to Mr X in that of which Mr X had duly paid over to Ricky Bobby.



That unfortunately was the first issue which many people do not realise when engaging the services of a person who will exclude services on your behalf especially that being builders. The main distinction being whether the contract which you enter into which is of vital importance, is that of a lump sum value, alternatively whether it is a re-measurable contract based on work performed and work paid.



On entering into the contract, Mr X was both not aware of the conditions or whether the price given being a modest (in today’s

terms) R 2 500 000.00. However the contract did not exclude extra work done and outsourced labour being in the form of subcontractors, in other words plumbers, electricians and so forth.



Further to the problem of Mr X engaging in the project with more than sufficient funds he has now found himself to an endless and seemingly bottomless account with the builder and his “colleagues", the plumbers and electricians and so forth. The quality of the service provided was getting worse and worse. Upon the occupation and date arising in August 2009 the project was both almost doubled in value, and numerous parts of the home were patiently defective and were of such poor quality that the roof was leaking, the toilets were already broken and the light fittings did not work and further leaked water through the fittings.



Mr X being a diligent person had confirmed that prior to entering into the contract with Ricky bobby that Ricky Bobby Builders CC were in fact registered with National Home Builders Regulatory Counsel (NHBRC). Therefore after raising the issue of quality on a number of occasions and Ricky Bobby denying outright that his company would rectify the situation, Mr X approached the NHBRC for assistance.



After submitting the relevant forms to the NHBRC , he was assured that the NHBRC would investigate and do one of two things:

1. Order the registered builder to rectify the situation, or

2. Should the builder refuse and/or fail to do so, obtain an alternative builder which they will pay for and claim the money back from the builder who was responsible for the defective service in the first place.



However after continuingly following up with the NHBRC some 3 months later Mr X was forced to engage the services of attorneys (our offices in this case, SNA). Only upon engaging Ricky Bobby in a costly and time consuming Arbitration did Mr X start seeing results.



Further to this in the interim Mr X’s home which he had already paid in the millions for, was neither complete or in any way suitable for living in.



The NHBRC at all times was neither helpful nor responsive in assisting with the matter despite their being required under law, in terms of the Housing Consumers Protections Measures Act of 1998.



Eventually Mr X’s hands were bound to rely on the outcome of the Arbitration proceedings between the parties in order to ensure the bill was performed in terms of their initial obligations in terms of the main contract being Mr X and Ricky Bobby Builders CC.



Therefore the question posed is what is the purpose of having a statutory regulatory body when they neither perform nor assist the very people who legislation laws pass in order to create them to protect. After all what is the purpose of providing someone with a defence mechanism, and not allowing them the benefit of using same.



If our Client in this case was unable to illicit or procure any positive assistance from the NHBRC how many more other people are being prejudiced by their failure to act in terms of their statutory obligation?



If it weren’t for SNA the matter would not have been resolved.

The author Wesley Soutter is a Partner at SNA Attorneys and has a strong background consulting to the construction and engineering industries key players therein.



Please contact Wesley Soutter on wesley@niselowlaw.co.za for any further matters on construction and engineering. http://www.niselowlaw.co.za