The New Zealand Registered Architects Board has recently announced that as of 1 January 2018, written contracts or “terms of appointment” will be mandatory between architects and their clients, without exception. Currently, verbal contracts are permitted, but from next year they will not be.

This new requirement will come into effect as a result of the Architect’s Code of Ethics having been revised.

The revised Code of Ethics also specifies key aspects that, as a minimum, must be included in all contracts, these being the scope of the work, the responsibilities of the parties, the fees (or how they will be calculated), and how billing will occur.

Potentially, architects will be held to account under the NZRAB’s disciplinary procedures if they accept a commission without meeting this requirement, i.e not having written terms of appointment as stipulated in the Architects’ Code of Ethics.

NZRAB chair Warwick Bell commented: “Regularly the NZRAB is contacted by members of public in regard to building projects that have got into difficulty. Some of these calls result in formal complaints that lead to disciplinary proceedings. At the heart of many of these problems is the lack of, or the inadequacy of, a proper written contract or terms of appointment laying out what’s going to be done and what the parties are entitled to expect from each other.

“A chat and a handshake can lead to work being started where actually the parties have different expectations or understandings of what’s been agreed to. The result can be grief later on, and substantial losses and distress for clients and architects.

“The NZRAB intends that, by making written terms of appointment mandatory, many of these misunderstandings and disappointments will be avoided. Some architects will have to change the way they do their business, but in time it will be accepted that everyone is better off as a result,” Mr Bell concluded.

The revised Architects’ Code of Ethics can be read here, and the regulations that created them can be viewed here.