NSW Fair Trading Minister, Linda Burney, today took a swipe at the Opposition over claims that thousands of homes and buildings are suffering damage from non-compliant guttering.

Ms Burney said that once again the Opposition spokesperson Ms Catherine Cusack is making claims that are inaccurate and ill-informed.

“Feedback from the building and plumbing industries and insurers, as well as Fair Trading complaint statistics, does not support the idea of a widespread problem – let alone it being ‘one of the greatest failures in Australian consumer protection history’,” Ms Burney said.

“High-front guttering has been in use in Australia for 17 years and works well on the vast majority of homes.

“There is no epidemic of guttering failure – complaints to Fair Trading in relation to guttering represent only one per cent of total complaints and insurance companies have not raised this issue with Government.”

General Manager of the Master Plumbers Association (MPA) of NSW, Paul Naylor agreed with the Minister.

“This is not a crisis,” Mr Naylor said.

“The issue of compliance with the standards has been raised by builders and plumbers following damage from the storm events of recent times because of overflow protection requirements.”

Ms Burney said amendments were made to the Australian Standard in 2000 which allow options on attaching guttering.

These standards were made a requirement under the national Building Code of Australia by the Australian Building Codes Board which receives funding from the Federal Government and is represented by each State and Territory.

“The amendments may have resulted in some confusion in the industry across Australia and subsequent problems in a small number of cases,” Ms Burney said.

“Builders and plumbers are responsible for keeping up to date with changes to the Building Code of Australia and Australian Standards.” 

To alleviate any confusion Ms Burney has asked the Building Professional Board to issue a circular to all local councils and private certifiers bringing this issue to their attention so that they are aware of potential problems when conducting inspections and to ensure compliance with Australian Standards.

“Home owners who believe that their high-front gutters have not been installed correctly should have them inspected by their builder or plumber,” Ms Burney said.

“Should consumers have trouble in having the guttering re-installed correctly they should lodge a complaint with the Office of Fair Trading online at this website or by calling 13 32 20.”

Lodge a building complaint online

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