Consumer Affairs Victoria (CAV), the peak body responsible for the administration of the Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995 (DBCA), has advised that they intend to undertake a series of compliance and monitoring inspections at display homes around Victoria commencing in October 2018 to ensure builders of display homes are complying with their obligations.

In particular s43(c) of the DBCA requires that a person who makes a display home available for inspection must ensure that certain prescribed documents are predominately displayed for inspection by the consumer who may be interested in having the same home built for them.

Section 43(2) requires a builder to prominently display in the display home:

1. A copy of the plans and specifications used for its constructions; and
2. A draft copy of the major domestic building contract that the builder is prepared to enter into for a similar home to be built.

The inspections aim to ensure that builders comply with their obligations in this regard, as recent targeted inspections have revealed low level of compliance amongst builders.

This obligation ensures that the consumer has important consumer protection who are contemplating entering into a building contract for a house similar the home being displayed.

Failure to adhere or comply to this requirement is an offence where a penalty of  50 penalty units (over $8000) may apply, with a default penalty of 1 penalty unit per day ($161.19) for every day thereafter (when the offence was first detected), where the builder has failed to rectify.

Should you have any inquiries, please do not hesitate to contact Master Builders Legal Department on (03) 9411 4555.