In late February, both the Victorian Building Authority (VBA) and Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV) announced a new regime of inspections. Last week, we provided an update on the VBA program. Below, we offer a similar update on the CAV approach to the inspections. Click here for the original advisory.

Be advised that in some circumstances, the CAV may elect not to undertake an inspection. On those occasions, the builder will be sent a letter containing the following information:

Under our Statewide Inspection Program, Consumer Affairs Victoria inspects businesses to ensure they are complying with the legislation we administer. We will be checking builders’ major domestic building contracts as part of the program.

We will be checking your contracts comply with:

• the Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995. For example, whether you are meeting your registration, warranty, insurance, and progress payment requirements
• the Australian Consumer Law; specifically, whether your contracts meet price advertising and proof of transaction requirements.

Benefits for you and your clients

Our inspections help you understand your legal obligations, and the consequences if you don’t meet them. They also help ensure consumers are protected from unfair practices.

How we choose who we inspect

Consumer Affairs Victoria selects builders for inspection:

• randomly
• based on a risk assessment
• in response to incoming complaints.

We only inspect builders who have completed a domestic building contract over the past 12 months.

Inspection powers

Our inspectors may:

• arrange a meeting with a business to discuss compliance obligations
• visit a business without prior notification to conduct an inspection
• enter and search business premises*
• require a business to produce documents and information
• inspect documents
• make copies or take extracts of documents
• seize documents or goods.

*Section 155 of the Australian Consumer Law and Fair Trading Act 2012

Inspectors may ask to view a range of documents, including:

• domestic building contract
• invoices and receipts
• builders warranty insurance documents
• building permits
• plans and specifications
• geotechnical soil reports.

What happens next

If our inspectors find your contracts have not complied with the law, you will receive a warning letter explaining what you need to do to resolve the issue.

For more serious failures, we have a range of enforcement options. See the ‘Compliance and Enforcement Policy’ page on the CAV website for details: https://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/compliance

Consumer Affairs Victoria

We expect to conduct more than 5,600 inspections of businesses this financial year – up from 3,470 in 2014-15. For more information, visit the ‘About inspections’ page on the CAV website: https://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/inspections