Most construction compliance is a document you can produce late. This one is not. If you build new homes for clients, registration is a legal requirement with a criminal consequence attached — and the obligation people most often miss is not the registration at all, but enrolling each individual house before they start it.
Who this actually applies to
The regime attaches to carrying on the business of a home builder — building new homes for housing consumers.
That matters in both directions. If you build new homes, this is not optional. If you do renovations, alterations, commercial or industrial work, or subcontract a trade to a main contractor, you are in a different position, and you should not be sold a registration you may not need.
Establish which you are before anything else. It is the question that decides everything below.
It is an offence, not a penalty
The Housing Consumers Protection Measures Act makes it a criminal offence to carry on the business of a home builder without being registered with the Council.
This is worth stating plainly because it is unlike the rest of the compliance stack. A lapsed COIDA letter costs you a site. An expired certificate costs you a bid. This one is a different category of problem, and it does not resolve by paying something later.
Two obligations, not one
The single most common misunderstanding in home building: builders register, believe they are compliant, and never enrol the houses.
Registering as a home builder
You register the business with the Council. Registration involves demonstrating competence — there is a technical assessment element, because the scheme exists to keep builders who cannot build out of the market.
Enrolling each home
Every new home must be enrolled before construction begins — and a home that was never enrolled carries no warranty cover.
Enrolment is per house, not once per business. It has to happen before you break ground, which means it belongs in your programme alongside plans approval, not in the pile of things you get to once the job is running.
The consequence of skipping it lands on the housing consumer first and on you second — because when a structural defect appears on an un-enrolled home, there is no scheme standing behind it, and the conversation is entirely between you and your client.
What the warranty covers
The warranty scheme covers major structural defects for five years from the date of occupation. That is a specific thing, not a general workmanship guarantee covering everything on the property.
Understanding the scope is in your interest as much as the client's. It is the difference between a defect that the scheme addresses and a snag that is simply your responsibility to fix.
The new Act: signed, not yet in force
The Housing Consumer Protection Act 25 of 2024 was assented in December 2024 and gazetted in January 2025 — but it has not commenced. Until it is proclaimed, the 1998 Act continues to apply, and the current registration and enrolment requirements stand.
This matters because a good deal of commentary describes the new Act as though it were already the law. It is not yet, and the regulations that will give it effect are still to go through public consultation. Nothing about what you must do today has changed.
The practical advice is simply: comply with what is in force now, and watch for the commencement proclamation rather than acting on the Bill coverage.
What to do
- Decide what you actually build. New homes for clients, or not. This decides whether the rest applies.
- If you build new homes, register the business and keep the registration current rather than letting it lapse between projects.
- Enrol every home before construction starts, and put it in the programme next to plans approval so it cannot be forgotten.
- Keep the rest of the stack current too — a COIDA letter of good standing expires annually, and CIDB grading caps what public work you may bid for.
- Do not buy a registration you do not need. If a provider cannot show you what the requirement attaches to, pause.
Not sure where you stand? The free construction check asks what you build first, and scores the rest against it.
Frequently asked questions
- Do I need to register with the NHBRC?
- If you carry on the business of a home builder - building new homes for housing consumers - then yes. The Housing Consumers Protection Measures Act makes it an offence to do that business without being registered with the Council.
- I only do renovations and commercial work. Does it apply to me?
- The regime attaches to the business of building new homes. Renovation, alteration, commercial and industrial work, and subcontracting a trade to a main contractor, are a different position. Check what you actually do before paying anyone to register you.
- I am registered. Is that enough?
- No. Registering as a builder and enrolling a home are two separate obligations. Every new home must be enrolled before construction begins, and a home that was never enrolled has no warranty cover.
- What does the warranty actually cover?
- The NHBRC warranty scheme covers major structural defects for five years from the date of occupation. It is not a general workmanship guarantee for everything on the property.
- Has the law changed?
- A new Housing Consumer Protection Act was signed in December 2024 and gazetted in January 2025, but it has not yet commenced. Until it is proclaimed, the 1998 Act and the current NHBRC requirements continue to apply.
Next steps
Compliance keeps you allowed to build. It does not make the job profitable — for public work, read pricing a tender without losing money.