The National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC) welcomes the news of President Cyril Ramaphosa signing into law the Housing Consumer Protection Bill.

The Bill offers greater protection for housing consumers whilst enhancing support for new entrants in the home building industry. This is as it seeks to address challenges identified by both the Department of Human Settlements and the National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC) with regards to the Housing Consumers Protection Measures Act of 1998.

The NHBRC is mandated to protects housing consumers from unscrupulous homebuilders who deliver substandard houses, shoddy workmanship and use poor quality material.

The Bill seeks to ensure adequate protection of housing consumers and effective regulation of the home building industry by, inter alia: strengthening the regulatory mechanisms, strengthening the protection of housing consumers, introducing effective enforcement mechanisms and prescribing appropriate penalties or sanctions to deter non-compliance by homebuilders.

Under the Bill, the following changes can be expected:
• Personal liability of the members, directors or trustees of a homebuilder, duties of estate agents, financial institutions and conveyancers, code of conducts for NHBRC members, homebuilders, developers and other industry role players.
• Both the builders, who undertake home building as a business, and owner-builders are now required to register with the council.
• Repairs, renovations, alterations and extensions to an existing home to be entered under the NHBRC’s regulatory regime.

Economic transformation of the building industry through the introduction of provisions relating to the warranty fund surplus, which may be used for developmental programmes for the homebuilding industry.