Remedies - What Can be Claimed in the Tribunal?
In most cases brought to the Tribunal, damages or a monetary sum is normally the remedy sought. A claimant can also apply for a work order - i.e. an order requiring that one or more of the respondents carry out specific work. However with all applications for work orders the claim should also be quantified. This is because when the Tribunal makes a work order it must also make an alternative money order just in case the work ordered is not carried out.
Damages can be awarded for:
- Reimbursement of remedial costs
- Estimated cost of remedial work. This can be either the amounts in the assessor's report or other quotations or estimates. It should be noted that it is often difficult to accurately assess the cost of repairs until they are actually carried out. In some cases initial estimates have been substantially less that the actual cost of repairs. For this reason owners of leaky homes should consider repairing the property before bringing their claim to the Tribunal if they can afford to do so
- Other costs associated with the repairs such as project management expenses, costs of obtaining building consents, engineers reports etc
- Loss of rental or reduction of rental for the period in which the property was affected by moisture or uninhabitable or the cost of alternative accommodation whilst repairs were carried out
- Interest on loans obtained to carry out repairs
- General damages for inconvenience and other out-of-pocket expenses incurred in repairing the home or due to the home leaking
- Accommodation costs if the claimant is required to move out of the house during any repairs
For examples of the types of awards that have been made refer to:
- DBH 00765: damages were awarded for the cost of remedial work, alternative accommodation, loan facility and interest, consultants' fees and general damages. However the adjudicator decided that the claimants were not entitled to an award for legal costs.
- DBH 00540: damages were awarded for the cost of remedial work, reimbursement of monies paid to the vendor for urgent remedial work, and general damages. The building contractor was also ordered to reimburse the claimants in the amount of $10,000 for legal costs on the basis that his defence was largely without merit. However the amount sought for reimbursement of a building surveyor's professional costs for the time it took him to investigate the property and preparing a report was awarded.
The Tribunal does not have the power to award legal costs and related costs except in the circumstances set out under s91 of the WHRS Act 2006, namely where a party has caused those costs to be incurred unnecessarily by:
- Acting in bad faith; or
- Making allegations or objections that do not have substantial merit.
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