James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Question 882: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the help he can offer to a person (details supplied) in County Longford regarding the resolution of problems associated with the structural deficiencies in their relatively new home, in view of the fact that cracks appeared four times throughout the building in the first year and are an on-going occurrence, subsidence is affecting the tarmacadam driveway down to the foundations of the house and given the fact that the problems are manifest how a pre-purchase inspection by the National House Building Guarantee Company, resulted in a certificate guaranteeing that the building was of sound structure issued to them and despite subsequently bringing the problem to the attention of both the builders and Home Bond in September 2010, to date they have received no response from Home Bond; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18953/12]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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The Building Regulations 1997 to 2011 provide for the safety and wellbeing of persons in and around buildings (including dwellings). The legal requirements are set out in twelve parts (classified as A to M) in the Second Schedule to the Regulations. Technical Guidance Documents are published to accompany each part in order to outline how the legal requirements can be achieved in practice.

In line with the Building Control Act 1990 the responsibility for compliance with the Building Regulations rests first and foremost with the owner and builder of the building. Enforcement of the Regulations is the responsibility of the local building control authority in whose functional area the building is situated which in this case is the Building Control Authority in Longford County Council. There is a five year limit from the date of completion of the dwelling within which the Building Control Authority can bring enforcement proceedings for failure to comply with the requirements of the Building Regulations.

Where building defects occur, their remediation is a matter for the parties concerned, namely the building owner, the relevant builder and the builder's insurers, in line with any contractual arrangements agreed between the parties.

The National House Builders' Guarantee Scheme (NHBGS) which operates the Homebond Warranty Scheme is a private limited company providing structural guarantees for new houses registered by the builder/developer and, since November 2008, the HomeBond Insurance Scheme is underwritten by Allianz Insurance. As in the case of any private company, the operations of HomeBond are a matter for its management and Board of Directors and I have no function in relation to how it deals with its inspections or claims.