Proposed dispute resolution amendment branded ‘legislative madness’

ON the back of consumer complaints in the building industry, the Victorian government is proposing an amendment to give more teeth to the Buyer Protections Bill 2025.

Introduced into Parliament this month, the bill is intended to better protect consumers, but the industries top peak bodies are unimpressed.

Both the Master Builders Victoria (MBV) and Housing Industry Association (HIA) have issued a united rejection of the Victoria Government’s proposed new building dispute resolution legislation, describing it as “unfair and unworkable”.

The Building Legislation Amendment Bill 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.

MBV chief executive officer Michaela Lihou said the lack of clarity in the proposed legislation would unfairly damage builders trying to do the right thing.

“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.”

Backing up MBV’s position, the HIA have also come out strongly condemning the short sited move by the government in a time when the industry needs to be supported, not hamstrung.

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?” Mr Ryan said.

“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.”

Compounding this, the industry believes it is not possible to fully assess the impact of the rectification order provisions in the Bill without knowing the outcome of the review of existing consumer protections and domestic contracts.

Ms Lihou said the Bill lacked clarity around the definition of what constitutes a “defect” as distinct from a ‘serious defect’ and the appropriate way to deal with each.

“We’re concerned that this legislation is being rushed through, when there is already a raft of existing consumer protections, albeit they are not always appropriately enforced and in a timely manner,” Ms Lihou said.

“Piling more legislation on decent builders is just another way of pushing them out of the industry.”

Mr Ryan said HIA’s experience had shown that as governments imposed more regulation, it only created more opportunities for good builders to fail and more laws for the bad builders to ignore.

“Further, this legislation will do nothing to protect consumers from uninsured people delivering substandard building work.”

Both industry bodies urged the Victorian government to withdraw the Bill and consult further with stakeholders.