Building surveyor Peter Rontogiannis suspended over alleged law breach

A dodgy building surveyor working in the city’s north allegedly broke industry laws 224 times by signing off on swimming pools without proper inspections.

A building surveyor who allegedly broke industry laws 224 times including by repeatedly signing off on swimming pools without inspections has been suspended.

The Victorian Building Authority says Peter Rontogiannis, who worked across Melbourne but predominantly in the northern suburbs, now faces record fines of up to $300,000 for his “blatant disregard for the law and public safety”.

The regulator alleges Mr Rontogiannis’s 224 Building Act breaches occurred across 73 sites, and delivered him a show cause notice this week.

It said there was evidence of a “pattern of widespread incompetence as a building surveyor” and he faces being banned from the industry for up to three years.

Dodgy building surveyor Peter Rontogiannis operated in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.

Among the allegations made by the VBA were that Mr Rontogiannis faked documents and failed to comply with past disciplinary action.

Regulators alleged a pattern of issuing swimming pool permits without appropriate inspections and “where he could not have been satisfied of the compliance of the proposed pool safety barriers”.

This included allegedly issuing a certificate for a non-compliant fence, as well as providing a number of permits for swimming pools without requiring “appropriate precautions”.

Mr Rontogiannis can appeal the suspension to the state’s planning tribunal, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, within 28 days.

The suspension follows three disciplinary processes already launched against Mr Rontogiannis between 2018 and 2022.

The VBA’s commissioner and chief executive, Anna Cronin, said the VBA will use “its full suite of disciplinary powers to hold rogue practitioners to account and to protect consumers”.

“Those who deliberately and blatantly flout building laws and put consumers at risk will pay the price,” she said.

State Building Surveyor, Steven Baxas, said “surveyors play a vital role in the building regulation system and must be held accountable when they fail to meet their obligations”.