Builders face $480k fines on insurance crackdown following liquidation of Porter Davis
Builders who fail to hold insurance for new homeowners face fines of close to half a million dollars in reforms being driven by the collapse of major builder Porter Davis.
Victoria
Don't miss out on the headlines from Victoria. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Dodgy builders who fail to hold insurance for new homeowners will face hefty fines of up to $480,000 in new laws being introduced in the wake of the collapse of Porter Davis.
Under the laws proposed by the Allan government, building companies that accept money without holding the requisite insurance face fines of up to $480,000.
Individual builders who do the same face being slapped with penalties of up to $96,000.
The requirement for builders to hold insurance covers contracts for domestic building work worth more than $16,000.
The proposed changes to the Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995 were announced by Premier Jacinta Allan on Tuesday morning.
The March liquidation of Porter Davis exposed how the building company was taking deposits from customers without having an insurance policy in place.
Ms Allan said the changes were part of an “ongoing reform agenda” to remedy loopholes in the existing legislative framework to better protect Victorians who wanted to build or renovate their home.
The Premier said the changes aimed “to make it a more competent system where Victorians rightly expect their homes to be built to building standards and that their regulator is acting and operating effectively and appropriately”.
The bill, which will be introduced into the lower house today, also provides the Victorian Building Authority with investigatory powers and the power to bring prosecutions against builders who fail to take out the required insurance.
It’s unclear whether the Victorian Managed Insurance Authority will be bolstered with the powers it needs.
Opposition leader John Pesutto indicated his broad support for the bill.
“We will look at the specifics of the changes but we would be very favourably disposed to that,” he said.
“We think homebuyers, particularly first home buyers, need to have the protection when they engage a builder who has insurance
“That’s sensible and it’s fair.”
Teen thugs allegedly caught on camera bashing liquor store worker
Security footage has captured the terrifying moment a liquor store worker was allegedly bashed by a group of teenage thugs trying to steal bottles of alcohol in Healesville. Watch the footage.
Looming gas shortfall to add to Victorians’ cost-of-living pain
Victoria’s gas crisis and a looming supply shortfall are set to stretch Victorian budgets even further, with claims manufacturers will “have no choice but to pass through cost increases”.