Where to get help

30 Jan

Cladding Safety Victoria is a Victorian Government program that works to reduce the risk associated with combustible cladding on residential apartment buildings.
Cladding Safety Victoria
www.vic.gov.au/cladding-safety
This free service replaced the BACV and helps to resolve domestic (residential) building disputes. The DBDRV is a heavily engaged service and consumers should anticipate delays in the processing of their dispute.
Domestic Building Dispute Resolution Victoria
www.dbdrv.vic.gov.au
The VBA is a statutory authority that oversees building legislation, regulates building practices, advises government and provides services to industry and consumers. The VBA regulates the Victorian building industry, administers the registration of Victorian building practitioners and monitors their conduct, accredits building products and construction methods and advises government on building policy.
The VBA has the power to intervene on a building site and issue directions to a builder to fix or repair work. The VBA can also secure an enforceable undertaking from a builder, which can require a builder to do a specified thing or refrain from doing it, or to pay the owner a sufficient sum to undertake repairs or complete work. An enforceable undertaking may act as an alternative to disciplinary action against the builder.
VBA’s website is useful for those contemplating building and renovation work; it provides technical and regulatory advice and practical hints.
Victorian Building Authority
www.vba.vic.gov.au
For information on the role of VCAT in resolving domestic building disputes, see ‘Resolving disputes’, above.
Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal
www.vcat.vic.gov.au
VCAT hears matters at venues throughout metropolitan and regional Victoria; see VCAT’s website for addresses.

The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal’s Building and Property List

VCAT’s Building and Property List has exclusive and monetary jurisdiction to hear and determine all domestic building disputes, including home warranty insurance claims. Before VCAT can hear a dispute, an application must be filed with the VCAT registrar, with the appropriate fee.

Applicants should be prepared before commencing VCAT proceedings. You should know what is wrong with your building, how it is to be repaired, and the repair costs. All this information should be supported with written reports and quotations.

Since 2022, the County Court has been accepting domestic building disputes. Consult your lawyer about this option.

For more information, see VCAT’s website (www.vcat.vic.gov.au).

The VCAT registrar may first refer a matter to mediation, where a qualified, independent mediator helps the parties resolve their dispute. If mediation is successful, the mediator notifies VCAT. If mediation is unsuccessful in smaller matters (where the dispute is for no more than $10,000), the VCAT hearing proceeds immediately.
Where mediation is unsuccessful in matters involving more than $10 000, a directions hearing is held (on the same day as the mediation, if possible). More complex disputes are referred to a directions hearing. At a directions hearing, a VCAT member sets out the steps that parties must take before a dispute is heard by VCAT.
VCAT, or the principal registrar, may also require the parties to attend one or more compulsory conferences before the proceeding is heard by VCAT.
The aim of a compulsory conference is to:
- identify and clarify the issues in dispute;
- promote settlement;
- identify questions of fact and law; and
- allow directions to be given concerning the conduct of the proceeding.
VCAT can make any order it considers fair, including:
- ordering the payment of money, including money owing, damages or restitution;
- varying a term of a domestic building contract;
- declaring a term of a domestic building contract is or is not void, or varying a contract to avoid injustice (note, section 14 of the DBC Act states that arbitration clauses in domestic building contracts are void);
- ordering the refund of money paid under a domestic building contract; and
- ordering rectification of defective building work or completion of incomplete work.
VCAT can:
- award costs (Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 1998 (Vic) s 109);
- refer questions of law to the Trial Division of the Supreme Court or the Court of Appeal (s 148); and
- grant leave to parties to be legally represented.