New legislation to protect owners’ corporations and homeowners slammed by builders’ association

In a move that would surprise no-one at all, both the Master Builders Victoria (MBV) and Housing Industry Association (HIA) have issued a united rejection of the Victorian Government’s proposed new building dispute resolution legislation, describing it as “unfair and unworkable”.

The Victorian Government is implementing a new government department to oversee all builders and plumbers in Victoria, and at the same time is introducing tough new legislation to protect owners’ corporations (OC) and homeowners, and is designed to catch up to legislation in New South Wales and in Queensland.

The Building Legislation Amendment (Buyer Protections 2025) Bill, which was introduced into Parliament in late March, is intended to better protect consumers, but MBV and HIA say while the intent is laudable, the impact of the proposed changes goes way beyond protecting consumers and will unfairly punish reputable builders with hasty and misconceived definitions and powers.

This despite the fact that builders and plumbers have had the benefit of weak home building regulations and poor oversight and supervision from the now-defunct Victorian Building Authority for the past 30 years.

MBV CEO Michaela Lihou said, “We all understand the need to protect consumers and have a fair, reasonable and respectful dispute resolution process, but this legislation takes a potential sledgehammer to the rights of builders.”

HIA executive director Keith Ryan called the legislation misguided and potentially damaging to an industry already grappling with a complicated regulatory system.

“Where is the logic when under these new rules, a builder could potentially be at risk of being subjected to a rectification order a decade or more after they’ve finished the job?” he said.

This whining from the HIA is seriously off the mark and on the nose. In New South Wales, all builders, developers, engineers and architects are subject to a 10-year legislative provision where an OC can bring a cause of action for defective construction work or design work. This has been the legislative position since 2021.

All that Victoria is doing is following in the footsteps of the building industry in New South Wales.

However, the HIA has droned on further:

“And as this legislation reads, the new Building and Plumbing Commission will be able to make ‘rectification orders’ against home builders in response to any type of complaint from a consumer, with apparently no need for the consumer to show that there are serious problems with their build that justify such a powerful intervention by a regulator.”

“And to add insult to injury, builders have no effective right to challenge the making of an order. This is legislative madness and totally unfair.”

In my view, the above comments are all I need to hear. I would implore the Victorian Parliament to immediately act to pass this legislation and fast track its commencement date. This is music to my ears, when I hear that builders are finally sounding a little frustrated, even scared of legislative change in the air.

Finally, OCs might be getting a powerful enforcement tool to help them in their challenge to get builders to fix defective buildings. Long overdue and well deserved, I say. •