Building a home? Follow these rules
Building a home for yourself is one of the greatest achievements
POLOKWANE – Not only is it something to call your own, but it is also something you can keep for a very long time if well maintained.
The National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC) is an organisation which regulates and protects the home building industry. They will play an important role if and when you ever decide to build your own home. There are a few things they want prospective home owners to take note of.
The council states that any builder or contractor must be registered with the NHBRC, this allows them to qualify to build houses.
NHBRC has stressed the need for people to know that you must enroll your home with the council so you can take advantage of the benefits offered, such as a five-year warranty on your house, which includes three months cover for minor problems and a year’s roof leakage cover.
NHBRC provincial manager, Nurse Lydia Chavalala, says failure to enroll your home with the council will have consequences and result in penalties (late fees), as well as admin compliances, which could become a legal issue.
She says you could also be blacklisted for 10 years if late enrollment occurs. “Banks simply will not finance homes that have not been enrolled,” she says.
Chavalala also spoke on the issue of fraud occurring among builders and contractors who scam prospective home owners with fake certificates.
“If you’re in the process of building a home, you need to visit the nearest NHBRC office to validate builders and contractors to make sure you are not being scammed. Our new certificates have specific security features and we can tell if a certificate is fake or not,” Chavalala explains.
In terms of maintenance, Chavalala says if the consumer has a problem that needs to be fixed, the consumer should correspond with the builder in writing and if the builder fails to rectify the problem, the consumer must then lodge a complaint with the NHBRC with proof of their correspondence in writing, and the council will then take over and rectify the problem.
Chavalala says making sure you follow the rules when it comes to building a home and complying with NHBRC will save you time and money in the long run and will provide you with benefits that will maintain your home.
