Building Warrant of Fitness (BWoF)

A building warrant of fitness (BWoF) is a building owner’s annual statement confirming the specified systems in the compliance schedule for their building have been maintained and checked for the previous 12 months.

Council is required to administer and enforce the BWoF system and can charge a fee for undertaking a BWoF inspection / audit. Inspections occur at least once every five years but may occur more frequently for high-risk buildings such as schools, rest homes and public use facilities. The purpose of undertaking these inspections is to ensure that owners and IQPs are fulfilling their obligations and correctly reporting on the life-saving features contained in buildings.

Council is currently working through a process of updating all compliance schedules to ensure that the information they contain is both accurate and helpful to the owner and IQP.

If an owner intends to undertake work on a building that has a compliance schedule, and the work will affect specified systems you are required to obtain a building consent for that work.

Failure to provide a BWoF on the anniversary date, failure to display a BWoF in the building, providing a false or misleading statement, or displaying a statement otherwise in accordance with s.108 of the Building Act may result in enforcement action being taken. Enforcement action includes but is to limited to the issuance of a Notice to Fix and / or infringement notices.

For more information refer to MBIE guidance Building warrants of fitness | Building Performance

For information on specified systems refer to Specified systems and compliance schedules | Building Performance