Home Owners & Buyers Association of New Zealand
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HOBANZ believes that every New Zealander should live in a warm, dry, safe and healthy home, in a community that cares
Getting there is going to be a big job and that’s why we can’t do it alone. Instead we have formed a not-for-profit membership association to bring owners and other interested parties together to create a new reality. There is only so much one individual alone can know or do. If we come together there is very little that we can’t do! HOBANZ will be the ears and voice of homeowners and prospective owners, and a platform for owners to take charge of their homes.
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We're about providing independent guidance and support to help owners make good decisions and to empower citizens to take charge of their homes and communities.
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We’re about seeding new ideas related to homes and communities and co-creating the new reality.
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We’re about getting our hands dirty and taking on the big challenges.
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We’re about connecting and partnering with people, groups, and organisations committed to building a better NZ. These stakeholders include banks, industry players, community organisations and government bodies committed to “good homes” from their various perspectives
HOBANZ was created to confront the leaky homes crisis
New Zealanders have significant issues to address related to the health and durability of our homes. The catalyst to form HOBANZ has been the nationwide leaky home problem. We estimate that well over 100,000 homes are affected. As we have learnt more we have realised that this is a complex issue arising from deregulation, lowering industry standards, a declining skill base and the introduction of many new and unproven products and designs. There is no quick fix to these problems - our solutions need to be well considered, comprehensive and collaboratively developed. We need to break the mould and create a whole new reality.
HOBANZ - Ensuring homeowners are heard and providing great advice
Information and Informed Opinion - HOBANZ is now recognised by many as an organisation that speaks for home owners. Our President, John Gray, and Chief Executive, Roger Levie, are frequently approached by media for comment on important issues affecting home owners.
This website includes information and opinion on many aspects of “good home” building and processes, buying or selling a house and leaky and defective homes. If you are a home owner, are thinking about buying or selling a home, building or renovating a house, or if you are dealing with a leaky building we invite you to register as an Online Member to access HOBANZ's comprehensive information and advice pages. Online membership is free. Our terms and conditions and privacy policy address the protection of any information you provide and ensure that HOBANZ cannot be found liable as a consequence of the information and opinion appearing on this website.
Support and Service - HOBANZ provides independent guidance and support to home owners who are often facing seemingly unfathomable dilemmas with their homes. We offer the collective wisdom of many other home owner experiences to the individual home owners we assist.
There is no situation where this approach is more relevant than with New Zealand’s big issue of leaky buildings and defective homes. This is an area where our team has provided guidance and support to hundreds of home owners over the last 5 years. Each owner’s situation is unique and hence their solutions must necessarily be tailored.
There is a load of information available about home buying, selling, building, renovating, maintaining and repairing, but making sense of it on one's own is tough. It’s hard to find good independent advice or to build knowledge in these areas if you don’t deal with them often. Drawing on the same collective experience model HOBANZ can walk alongside the home owner to help them make good decisions and avoid the pitfalls.
We are not lawyers, nor are we industry experts, although we work with some of the best. Our generalist approach is our strength. We take a comprehensive look at what is going on, with the home owner's interests at the centre, and guide and support comprehensive solutions to best suit the individual or body corporate involved. Sometimes that involves education, guidance, supporting people through mediation or litigation, sometimes through home remediation, sometimes complete rebuilds.
HOBANZ Accreditation initiative - HOBANZ is currently developing an accreditation programme to lift indusry standards and give home owners a source of trusted providers (building report inspectors, builders, roofers, plumbers, gasfitters, surveyors) they can rely on. Accreditation will not only focus on qualifications, but also on a provider’s business practices and approach.
The HOBANZ Accreditation Programme will allow home owners to provide feedback on their experiences so that those who are doing it right can be applauded. Where things are not so good providers will be given the opportunity to address issues and improve their performance, rather than being immediately consigned to a black list.
And many other future shaping initiatives including -
- Unique litigation funding partnerships
- Charitable projects
- Establishing the not-for-profit membership association (full membership opening soon)
- Aligning Government policy with homeowner needs
Some of the services mentioned here are currently provided by Lighthouse NZ Ltd, a company established by John Gray and Roger Levie to assist leaky home owners. The resources of Lighthouse NZ will shortly be transferred to HOBANZ Enterprises Ltd, which will be a company wholly owned by HOBANZ Incorporated. Any surplus created by Lighthouse NZ Ltd to date has supported the development of HOBANZ.
HOBANZ Incorporated (the membership association) now has donee status, and charitable status is pending.
Become a HOBANZ Online Member now
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