Things don’t always go to plan when you are building or renovating. But there are steps you can take to help you resolve disputes between you and your building contractor.

Note: The term "residential building work" is widely used in this section and broadly means any work involved in, or in co-ordinating or supervising, the construction, alteration or additions, or repair, renovation, decoration or protective treatment of a dwelling.

NSW Fair Trading is also able to deal with complaints about specialist work (ie. electrical wiring, plumbing, gas-fitting or air-conditioning/refrigeration) in non-residential buildings.

You can make a complaint to Fair Trading if your building work is less than 7 years old and the builder is not responding to your efforts to resolve a dispute about alleged defective building work. The 7 year period is known as the statutory warranty period. The 7 year period is taken to have commenced at the point where the works involved became available for use by the consumer. Complaints can be lodged online or by completing a Home building complaint form and sending it to Fair Trading.

You complaint will be mediated by Fair Trading staff and can lead to a building inspector visiting the property and deciding whether the builder is responsible for defective work. This can then lead to agreement by the builder to make repairs or to the Fair Trading building inspector issuing a rectification order to the builder. In some cases, it may be concluded that the builder is not responsible for the alleged defects.

Individual strata and community lot owners can lodge complaints with Fair Trading and invite a Fair Trading building inspector onto the common property of a strata scheme or association property in a community scheme. As a further safeguard, caretakers and other persons who control access to areas of the common property will be obligated to cooperate with officers from Fair Trading and provide assistance to enable the inspection to be carried out, for example by providing access to locked areas of the common property.

Important: Under home warranty insurance, a home owner must take action (eg. initiate dispute resolution by lodging a complaint with NSW Fair Trading) to try to have the builder finish any incomplete work and rectify any defective building work. Where a home owner does not take action to enforce a statutory warranty an insurer may reduce its liability (or the amount paid under a claim), to the extent that the insurer’s interests have been prejudiced as a result of the home owner not trying to have the builder complete or repair the work.

Visit Contracts-statutory warranties for further information on the statutory warranty period.

Lodge a home building complaint

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In order to safeguard your position under your home warranty insurance policy, if you become aware of defective or incomplete work, you should immediately notify your home warranty insurer in writing, of a loss (eg. financial loss or damage).

For more information, go to the Home warranty insurance claims page.

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The NSW Government is committed to helping consumers resolve their disputes with builders. In this regard, NSW Fair Trading provided funding for a Home Building Advocacy Service (HoBAS) run by the Macquarie Legal Centre. On 1 January 2007, the service commenced a 1-year pilot which was successfully completed in 2008.

A client satisfaction survey conducted by the Centre showed a high approval rating from clients for the pilot service. HoBAS also reported the resolution of many matters before they had to progress to the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal.

On 29 October 2008 the Minister for Fair Trading announced that the service would be funded to operate for 3 years, commencing 1 November 2008. 

The service provides another level of support for NSW consumers involved in home building. It complements the free dispute resolution service offered by Fair Trading, with practical and commonsense advice, particularly with regards to contractual and legal issues associated with building disputes. 

HoBAS offers consumers access to the following services:

• advice to NSW residential home building consumers on their rights, responsibilities and on what action can be taken to resolve their home building dispute
• advocacy on behalf of consumers in disputes with home building licensees or relevant parties via telephone, letters or face ot face representation
• negotiation of disputes between consumers and builders or relevant party
• assistance to residential home building consumers in the preparation of cases for Tribunal hearings
• representation of residential home building consumers at Tribunal hearings where considered appropriate
• referrals to relevant authorities
• community education activities.

Please note: HoBAS can only assist consumers after they have completed NSW Fair Trading's dispute resolution process.  There may be charges for some services offered by the Centre.

To find out if Macquarie Legal Centre can assist you with your building dispute, contact them on Tel: 8833 0911, Fax: 8833 0900, Email: hobas@clc.net.au.

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If you still can't resolve the dispute, it may be useful to seek the advice of a building consultant or a solicitor. If you don't have your own solicitor, you may want to contact the Law Society of NSW on 9926 0300. They can tell you the names of a few solicitors in your area that specialise in building matters.

You might also wish to contact one or more of the relevant industry organisations for advice or assistance, or contact the Housing Industry Association (HIA) on their consumer hotline 1902 973 555 (a cost per minute applies). The HIA operates their consumer hotline to provide advice to consumers on a range of domestic building issues.

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The Home Building Act 1989 establishes the home warranty insurance scheme.

If a builder or tradesperson does not obtain home warranty insurance for residential building work where the contract price (or, if the contract price is not known, the reasonable market cost of the labour and materials involved) is over $12,000 they are committing an offence under the Home Building Act 1989.

The scheme involves approved private insurers and provides protection for consumers against defective or incomplete residential building work (for policies issued after 1 July 2002, where the builder has died, disappeared or become insolvent).

Home warranty insurance policies issued from 19 May 2009 onwards enable home owners to be able to make a claim under the policy where the licence of a contractor they are using is suspended because the contractor failed to comply with a money (compensation) order in favour of the home owner made by a Court or the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal. This will reduce delays in getting homes completed or defective work rectified because insurance claims can be made more quickly.

If you have insurance issued by HIH Casualty and General Insurance Limited (HIH) or FAI General Insurance Company Limited (FAI), you will need to lodge a claim under the NSW Government’s HIH Rescue Package.

Home warranty insurance claims
HIH Rescue Package

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