New Building & Plumbing Commission
Latest25 Oct, 2024 835
New Building & Plumbing Commission
The Victorian Government has announced that in 2025, it will legislate the integration of the Victorian Building Authority (VBA), Domestic Building Dispute Resolution Victoria (DBDRV) and VMIA’s Domestic Building Insurance (DBI) functions into a single entity.
This will create a single integrated building sector regulator bringing together the functions of licensing, compliance and discipline, dispute resolution and insurance.
The regulator’s new powers will include:
- A new rectification order power to allow the regulator to act against a builder after the occupancy permit is issued.
- Compelling developers of apartment buildings above three storeys to notify the regulator before a building is occupied, so the regulator can conduct a final inspection.
- Apartment developers will be required to provide a bond to cover the cost of rectifying defects for buildings over three storeys. The new bond will be the first step towards introducing a new 10-year insurance product for apartment buildings,
- DBI will be expanded to respond when a builder has failed to comply with the new rectification order. This means the builder must no longer be insolvent, have disappeared, or died before a claim can be made.
Eric Karabardak
Principal Lawyer