New consumer protection reforms for the Victorian building industry

Sefton Warner (Special Counsel), Norton Rose Fulbright Australia¹

Overview

The Victorian Government has taken up the challenge to continue to reform the Victorian building industry in 2016, by passing the Building Legislation Amendment (Consumer Protection) Act 2016 (Vic). The reforms were first introduced into Parliament in late 2015, and received assent on 19 April 2016. The reforms are expected to come into force on 1 July 2017. In this briefing note, we summarise the impact of key anticipated reforms on developers and major contractors in the industry.

There are four relevant key topics of these reforms:

• Revision to the requirements for registration, with time-limited registrations and renewals dependent on continuing professional development;