The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment says it has prosecuted an unlicensed builder under the Crimes Act 1961 for the first time since the introduction of the Licensed Building Practitioners (LBP) scheme.

MBIE says Mosgiel man Rodney James Day has pleaded guilty to 15 charges in the Christchurch District Court, including four forgery charges under the Crimes Act.

It says Mr Day was also charged with 11 offences under the Building Act 2004 for portraying himself to be a licensed building practitioner, without holding a license, and undertaking restricted building work.

"On two separate occasions while undertaking work at Christchurch properties, Mr Day told the owners his licence had expired and he would get an LBP to supervise and sign off the work. Instead Mr Day used an LBP number known to him to complete the paperwork for the jobs without having the work reviewed. In one instance the paperwork was provided to a real estate company for use in the sale of the property," MBIE says.

“Mr Day deceived not only the people who hired him to undertake building work, he fraudulently used another person’s details to his own benefit, not considering the impact this would have on them,” says MBIE’s Occupational Licensing Operations Manager, Duncan Connor.

“This type of offending is undertaken to deliberately mislead people for the individual’s own financial gain.

“The LBP scheme is in place to ensure consumers can make informed decisions when it comes to hiring builders to undertake restricted building work. This type of offending brings the LBP scheme into disrepute and will not be tolerated.

“MBIE will not hesitate to prosecute people who commit offences under the Building Act and/or the Crimes Act.”

Mr Day will be sentenced in the Christchurch District Court on 24 September 2019.