The owner of a renovation company has been ordered to pay $21,000 in fines and reparation for dodgy plumbing on bathrooms.
Shams Construction Works general manager Shamsher Ali was sentenced at the Auckland District Court last week after he was found guilty of carrying out sanitary plumbing in two bathrooms at a Mt Roskill property without a registration or licence.
Plumbers, gasfitters and drainlayers are regulated industries and anyone carrying out work needs to be approved by the Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers Board.
The board sought a $9000 fine, which is one of the highest ever given because of the scale of the offending and significant damage caused. Sanitary plumbing offences have a maximum penalty of $10,000 and, in the past, fines have been between $1000 and $2000. Another $15,000 was ordered for reparation.
The dodgy plumbing carried out by Shams Construction Works cost the homeowner $20,000 to rebuild the two bathrooms because of water damage and gases venting into the home after the original toilet pipe was tiled over instead of disconnected.