A total of 122 criminal cases have been opened against home builders, who have contravened the Housing Consumers Protection Measures Act 95 of 1998 (HCPMA).

According to the National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC) the offences include carrying on the business of building homes without having registered and non-enrolment of homes.

HCPMA requires everyone in the business of building homes to register with NHBRC. The act also requires all new homes to be registered with the NHBRC, 15 days prior to construction.

Ensuring compliance and enforcement

NHBRC CEO Mziwonke Dlabantu said the NHBRC has partnered with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), South African Police Service (SAPS) and housing consumers to the successful prosecution of these matters.

“Our mandate as the housing watchdog requires us to take a stand against non-compliance with the act in order to protect housing consumers and to this extent, the NHBRC will continue to engage with relevant stakeholders to ensure compliance and enforcement of the act,” said Dlabantu.

More suspensions and prosecutions

Over and above this, Dlabantu said the NHBRC has suspended 211 and prosecuted 506 home builders, contractors and developers, who transgressed the building regulations.

These include offences that relate to failure to rectify major structural defects, failure to rectify workmanship related defects, failure to enrol a home and contravening the code of conduct for home builders.

The provincial builder suspensions recorded include 70 in Gauteng, 66 in Western Cape, 29 in KwaZulu-Natal, 16 in Limpopo, 16 in Mpumalanga, five in North West, three in Eastern Cape, three in Free State and three in Northern Cape.