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{{propApi.successMessage}} {{region}} Change locationBuyer protection reforms – hidden and flawed
Buyer protection reforms – hidden and flawed
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As the home building industry rushes to complete homes before Christmas and get ready for the holiday shutdown, the Victorian government has elected to release buyer protection proposals for public comment. Submissions are expected to be submitted by 1 February 2026.
“HIA strongly believes that the timing of the release of these proposals and short time to consider and respond is unreasonable. It will not allow enough time for considered responses from stakeholders. The timing of the release and the tight deadline suggests that the Victorian government is indifferent to feedback,” said Mr Ryan.
“HIA opposed the Buyer Protection Act as it has an unnecessarily broad definition of what triggers a claim for assistance and distorts the process for builders and clients to resolve disputes. Sadly, these laws are unlikely to improve consumer protection outcomes but will lead to more builders not being paid for their work.
“The draft regulations do nothing to respond to our concerns about these laws and instead seem to make a bad situation worse. The proposed regulations will create an expectation for consumers that can never be satisfied.
“It is also impossible to see how the Victorian government will be able to administer these new laws by July 2026. We expect to see as a minimum a repeat of 2017 when the Victorian government last attempted to improve the dispute resolution process between builders and consumers and instead created a backlog of unhappy consumers waiting months for their disputes to be considered.
“HIA calls on the Victorian government to extend the time for industry, and indeed other stakeholders who probably also want a summer holiday, to respond to these regulation proposals,” concluded Mr Ryan.
HIA expresses concern over abandoned election commitment on Planning
The Housing Industry Association (HIA) has today expressed concern that the Tasmanian Government appears to have walked away from a key election commitment to accelerate the finalisation of Regional Land Use Strategies.
Proposed Building Electrification Regulations and Section 10
The Victorian Government’s proposed Building Electrification Regulations are scheduled to commence on 1 January 2027. These regulations will require all new residential and most new commercial buildings to be built as all-electric, and in existing residential buildings an existing gas hot water systems (HWS) will be required to be replaced with electric HWS at end-of-life.
Annual Regional Meeting of Members of Victoria Region
Notice is hereby given that the Annual Regional Meeting of Members of the Victoria Region of Housing Industry Association Limited will be held on Monday 16 February 2026 at HIA Cremorne Office – Level 1, 8 Gwynne Street, Cremorne, Victoria, 3121 commencing at 5.00pm.
Buyer Protections Regulations released tick the box consultation
The Victorian government has released today, on the stroke of Christmas for public consultation the draft regulations implementing parts of the Building Legislation Amendment (Buyer Protections) Act.