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ARTICLE · 13 AUGUST 2025

Residential Focus: HBCF eligibility decisions – too challenging to challenge?

Holding Redlich
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NSW SC rejected builder's challenge to Home Building Compensation Fund eligibility decision, highlighting the limited avenues for contesting such determinations.

AustraliaReal Estate and Construction
Christine Jones
Christine Jones
India Godfrey-Hill
India Godfrey-Hill
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In what seems to be the first decision of its kind, the Supreme Court has, in Introbuild Constructions Pty Ltd v Insurance and Care NSW [2025] NSWSC 773, rejected a builder's judicial review challenge to a Home Building Compensation Fund (HBCF) eligibility decision.

With no administrative review pathway provided in the legislation, the decision suggests that there is little effective means of challenging eligibility decisions.

Facts of the case – Introbuild Constructions Pty Ltd v Insurance and Care NSW [2025] NSWSC 773

The plaintiff was a contractor required to have a policy of insurance under the Home Building Compensation Fund Insurance (HBCF insurance) in order to enter into residential building contracts exceeding $20,000, under section 92 of the Home Building Act 1989 (NSW) (HBA).

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