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The Home Building Amendment Act 2014

The Home Building Amendment Act 2014, containing more than 50 amendments to the Home Building Act 1989, was passed by the NSW Parliament in May 2014. This followed an extensive consultation from July 2012, including a broad range of stakeholders.

The amendments include:

  • Clarifying the definition for major defects
  • Requiring progress payment schedules in contracts for work over $20,000
  • Increasing the maximum deposit for work over $20,000 to 10 per cent
  • Consolidating licensing provisions (including standard licensing conditions that will inform decisions such as when someone faces licensing restrictions)
  • Streamlining and rationalising home building contract requirements
  • Establishing a public register of home warranty insurance certificates
  • Renaming the home warranty insurance scheme to better reflect its purpose and how it operates
    Access a copy of the Home Building Amendment Act 2014

 

Consultation on the draft Home Building Regulation 2014

The Home Building Regulation 2004 is being remade to incorporate the amendments made by the Home Building Amendment Act 2014. It is also proposed to implement other reforms to:

  • Implement some outcomes of the Review of the Home Building Act 1989 that were not included in the Amendment Act
  • Fast-track some key recommendations made by the Independent Pricing Regulatory Tribunal in its draft report, Reforming Licensing in NSW
  • Implement some other insurance, licensing, fee changes and general updates to the law.

A consultation draft of the Regulation was released in July 2014, with a Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) explaining the Regulation’s key proposed changes:

Consultation has now closed. The closing date for comments and submissions was 15 August 2014.

Next steps

NSW Fair Trading is considering the feedback received during consultation before the Home Building Regulation 2014 is finalised. Once completed, the Regulation will be submitted to the Governor for approval, after which the Regulation will be published on the NSW legislation website. It is proposed that the Amendment Act and the new Regulation will commence together. Some changes that require a greater lead time for implementation may commence on a later date.

Reference:

https://www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au/ftw/About_us/Have_your_say/Review_of_home_building_legislation.page