Req
uests for Weathertight Services Information under the Official Information Act 1982
Weathertight Services regularly receives requests for information under the Official Information Act
1982 (the OIA). Although each request is assessed and responded to on a case-by-case basis, there
are various common issues which are particular to Weathertight Services information for which we
have developed a ‘standard’ approach, based on experience, precedent, and in some cases, legal
advice. However, while the ‘standard’ approach is often a good starting point, it is important to note
that there may be exceptions, and each request should be assessed on its own merits, taking into
account the specific and current context in which the request is made.
Contents
1.
Releasing Lists ............................................................................................................................. 1
2.
Privacy ......................................................................................................................................... 2
3.
Weathertight Mediations ........................................................................................................... 3
4.
TA Documents ............................................................................................................................. 4
5.
Refining an OIA Request ............................................................................................................. 4
6.
Files/information and documents .............................................................................................. 4
7.
Action Notes ................................................................................................................................ 5
8.
Contractor Information ............................................................................................................... 5
9.
When the requester is a Trust .................................................................................................... 6
1. Releasing Lists
From time to time Weathertight Services receives requests asking for lists of claims (property
addresses) and owners. Based on previous advice from the Ombudsman in 2008 (see link below), we
do not release information in this way. The 2008 advice states that we are able to withhold this
information under section 9(2)(ba)(ii) of the OIA, which provides that it is necessary to withhold
information to “protect information which subject to an obligation of confidence or which any
person has been or could be compelled to provide under the authority of any enactment, where the
making available of the information would be likely otherwise to damage the public interest”.
However, an exception to this will apply when the request is made by a Territorial Authority (TA)
requesting lists of information on claims which relate to their region and which were active (open or
received) after 1 April 2007. This is the date on which the Weathertight Homes Resolution Services
Act 2006 came into force, including section 124 which sets out that the Ministry must inform TAs of
particular events in relation to claims (known as ‘LIM notifications’). Having received the LIM
notifications for each of these active claims, TAs will already be aware of the claims, including names
of owners and addresses of properties. Claims which were closed prior to the 2006 Act coming into
force are not covered by this exception, as the TA would not have received LIM notifications for the
claim and therefore may not be aware of the claim in the same way. Therefore, lists of pre-2006 Act
claims could be withheld from a TA under section 9(2)(ba)(ii) of the OIA, as above.
TAs received information on all claims open as at 1 April 2007 as part of an OIA request made by
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) on behalf of all TAs. More information, including copies of
