Blair Pitcaithly (CB25353)
The Board has chosen to publish the details of this hearing due to the respondent’s criminal offending bringing the Licensed Building Practitioners scheme into disrepute.
Section 317 of the Building Act 2004 states that any Licensed Building Practitioner who has been convicted of any offence punishable by a term of six months or more face disciplinary action from the Board. This is the case whether it happened before or after being licensed, or whether the court was in New Zealand or elsewhere.
The Board has found that Mr Pitcaithly is in breach of Section 317, and that the commission of the offence reflects adversely on his fitness to carry out or supervise building work or building inspection work.
When informed of the Board’s decision, the respondent’s submission was “i wont be paying you clowns a cent and this has now been forward to my laywer” [sic]
No mitigation provided by this submission, so the Board decided to uphold its initial view that Mr Pitcaithly’s licence should be cancelled, and he may not apply to be relicensed for a period of three years.
He was also ordered to pay costs of $1500 towards the costs of the Board’s inquiry, and the Registrar is to publicly notify the Board’s action.
What can we learn from this decision?
The LBP scheme is a professional organisation, and one of its main functions is to give the public confidence that the Licenced Building Practitioner they choose has been assessed by the industry and has demonstrated competence that he or she can carry out the work competently and in a trustworthy manner.