LBP forgery uncovered

A builder has been hit with a sentence of six months community detention after being convicted of forging the signatures of Licensed Building Practitioners (LBPs)  

Jimmy Carson, the sole director of Carson Design and Co Ltd, was convicted by Tauranga District Court for forging signatures of two LBPs on Certificate of Design Work for three properties in Mt. Maunganui, East Taieri and Tauranga between September 2021 and July 2022. 

Carson used the LBPs licence numbers, addresses and phone numbers, which he obtained while corresponding with them regarding the designs of the properties. 

The Judge, Greg Hollister-Jones, considered the offending to be “moderate to serious” and sentenced Carson to six months community detention and ordered him to pay a $2,000 fine for providing false and misleading information.

Significant breach of trust

Duncan Connor, Registrar of Licensed Building Practitioners, said Carson was fully aware of the consequences of his actions and the impact it could have on his clients. 

“There was a high degree of premeditation in the offending by Mr Carson and he caused a significant breach of trust,” said Connor. “Carrying out Restricted Building Work (RBW) without holding an appropriate licence or being supervised by an LBP is a serious offence. 

“The LBP scheme ensures consumers can be confident that they are hiring properly trained professionals to carry out or supervise RWB and I urge anyone engaging a builder to first look them up on the LBP Public Register. 

“By being licensed, LBPs are able to promote their professional skills and behaviour in the building industry and show the public and potential clients that they meet a minimum standard of competency in their licensed area.” 

Tauranga City Council discovered Carson’s offending in September 2022 upon phoning the LBP, whose name and signature Carson forged to file a Certificate of Design Work. 

Only LBPs are able to carry out or supervise RBW and must keep their licence up to date while carrying out such work. RBW is design or construction work crucial to the integrity of a building, including the design and construction of the primary structure (for example, foundations and framing) and the external envelope, such as roofing and cladding. 

No remedial work required 

Steve Pearce, Manager: Building Services at Tauranga City Council, said that no remedial work will need to be undertaken because construction had not commenced. 

“The robust consenting process we go through ensured, regardless of the fraudulent paperwork, that the consented building work complied with the Building Code and the owners wouldn’t be facing a defective building. 

“As the fraudulent activity was identified before works were done, we are satisfied that the buildings are fully compliant and hence no remedial work is required.” 

Pearce added that the Council believes Carson’s offending was limited to the buildings in question. 

“We are confident that the consent applications that Mr Carson worked on, but provided forged documents for, are limited to those exposed through MBIE’s investigation. This shows that the system works – our officers identified the anomaly with the documentation and brought it to the attention of the right people.”