Home building compliance and enforcement

Background

The Building Commission NSW ensures compliance with the Home Building Act 1989. The Act requires builders and tradespeople to be licensed for the residential building work they do, including tradespersons who undertake specialist work such as plumbing, electrical and air conditioning work.

The Act also establishes standards in relation to competence, probity, contracts, statutory warranties and the home building compensation fund to protect people against defective and/or incomplete work.

Complaint analysis

The Building Commission NSW reviews each complaint to decide the best way to handle it. This includes assessing if dispute resolution is appropriate, a full investigation is necessary, or disciplinary action should be taken.

The Building Commission NSW also works with other state agencies to spot trends in the market that could impact consumers and traders in NSW. This helps make sure that the resources of the Building Commission NSW are used effectively.

Investigations

Building Commission NSW investigates alleged breaches of the Home Building Act. We have a range of regulatory options available when conduct issues and breaches of legislation are identified. This includes:

• the issue of a penalty notice
• prosecution through the local court
• injunctive action in the Supreme Court of NSW
• disciplinary action.

Compliance programs

Compliance programs detect and deter unlicensed contractors who have the potential to disadvantage consumers and reputable licensed contractors. The Building Commission NSW conducts regular programs to test the level of compliance with the Home Building Act and penalties are imposed on contractors who fail to comply.

Persons who have either been prosecuted for offences under the Act or disqualified from holding a contractor licence are monitored by the Building Commission NSW to ensure they do not return to the industry.

Enforcement

In the course of administering the Home Building Act and related consumer protection legislation, the Building Commission NSW may be required to take enforcement action against individuals or businesses that contravene those laws.

Enforcement action is designed to:

• stop unlawful conduct
• reduce the likelihood of its recurrence
• act as a deterrent
• maintain a high standard of competency among licensed contractors
• where appropriate, reverse or reduce the impact of any contravention, for example through publishing a correction.

Enforcement reporting

The Building Commission NSW publishes a quarterly report on enforcement actions taken (excluding matters subject to appeal), which may include:

• convictions resulting from prosecution in Court
• statistical information on penalty notices
• disciplinary determinations, including results of proceedings in the Administrative Decisions Tribunal
• injunctions resulting from civil proceedings in the Supreme Court.