Unlicensed house roofer fined $2500

The man pleaded guilty for falsely claiming he was a licensed building practitioner. Photo / Getty Images

A Kerikeri man who claimed he was a licensed roofer has been fined $2500.

Aaron Connelly, director of Connelly Roofing Limited, has been sentenced in the Kaikohe District Court and order to pay a $2500 for falsely presenting himself as a Licensed Building Practitioner (LBP) and a member of the Roofing Association of New Zealand (Ranz), despite never being affiliated with either.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) brought the case to the Kaikohe District Court and MBIE investigations team leader Simon Thomas said the case should send a clear message to the building industry.

"Claiming to be a licensed building practitioner without holding such a licence is illegal, and where MBIE has evidence of this, offenders can expect to be prosecuted," Thomas said.

Connelly provided a homeowner with a business card which displayed LBP and RANZ logos before undertaking roofing work. Soon after the work was completed, a leak was noticed and Connelly returned to the property to fix it, however the leak persisted.

The homeowner attempted to make contact with Connelly several times after, however by this point he had cut contact with the homeowner.

"Mr Connelly acknowledged that promoting yourself as an LBP if you are not one, can result in serious fines," Thomas said.

"To hold yourself out as an LBP is misleading to consumers and most importantly it puts New Zealanders' property at risk."

It is an offence under Building Act 2004 for a person to claim to be licensed to carry out or supervise restricted building work, while not being licensed.

MBIE urged that consumers should check the LBP public register when seeking practitioners to carry out building work on their homes.