u/newdracula

I know we should have read the LIM thoroughly myself but I didn't :( Lesson learned.

Hi everyone, looking for realistic thoughts or experiences from anyone who has gone down, REA complaint or the Professional Indemnity (PI) insurance / legal claim route against a real estate agency or law firm in NZ.

​Our Situation:

We purchased a home back in 2024. It’s recently come to light that the property has an unconsented structural alteration, severe cladding/moisture issues, and an unresolved historical building consent from 1999. We are now trying to sell the house but the buyer lenders(our anz mortgage did not flag it for some reason) are not happy with the "ccc not issued" part of the LIM.

​We have clear, written contemporaneous evidence before we went unconditional:

- Real Estate Agent: I specifically asked the listing agent via text before going unconditional if a Code Compliance Certificate (CCC) was issued. He explicitly texted back: "This is an old property, doesn't need ccc. No structure changes was done" We relied on this.

- ​Conveyancer: We queried the LIM and consent status with our conveyancer(including the comment from the agent), but they failed to flag the open consent, didn't inspect the council property file, and let the contract go unconditional without warning us.

Has anyone successfully claimed against an agent/agency or conveyancer's PI insurance for misrepresentation or breach of duty?

​How hard do insurers usually fight clear written paper trails (like explicit WhatsApp texts stating "no structural changes were done")?

​Did you have to go all the way to court, or did they settle at mediation once a formal Letter of Demand + retrospective valuation was served?

How about raising a complaint with REA and NZLS?

Would love to hear any thoughts, perspectives, experiences, or realistic reality checks on our likelihood of winning/recovering any compensation.

Cheers!

PS: The funny thing is, we avoided a lot of properties with any sort of unconsented works but in the end ended up buying a house with plenty of those.

I know I should have read the LIM thoroughly myself but I didn't :( Lesson learned.

Hi everyone, looking for realistic thoughts or experiences from anyone who has gone down the Professional Indemnity (PI) insurance / legal claim route against a real estate agency or law firm in NZ.

​The Situation:

We purchased a home back in early 2024. It’s recently come to light that the property has an unconsented structural alteration, severe cladding/moisture issues, and an unresolved historical building consent from 1999. We are now trying to sell the house but the buyer lenders(our anz mortgage did not flag it for some reason) are not happy with the "ccc not issued" part of the LIM.

​We have clear, written contemporaneous evidence before we went unconditional:

- Real Estate Agent: I specifically asked the listing agent via text before going unconditional if a Code Compliance Certificate (CCC) was issued. He explicitly texted back: "This is an old property, doesn't need ccc. No structure changes was done" We relied on this.

- ​Conveyancer: We queried the LIM and consent status with our conveyancer(including the comebt from the agent), but they failed to flag the open consent, didn't inspect the council property file, and let the contract go unconditional without warning us.

Has anyone successfully claimed against an agent/agency or conveyancer's PI insurance for misrepresentation or breach of duty?

​How hard do insurers usually fight clear written paper trails (like explicit WhatsApp texts stating "no structural changes were done")?

​Did you have to go all the way to court, or did they settle at mediation once a formal Letter of Demand + retrospective valuation was served?

How about raising a complaint with REA and NZLS?

Would love to hear any thoughts, perspectives, experiences, or realistic reality checks on our likelihood of winning/recovering any compensation.

The funny thing is, we avoided a lot of properties with any sort of unconsented works but in the end ended up buying a house with plenty of those.

Cheers!