End to Shonky Aparartment Buildings !

At long last a bill is on its way to both houses of the New South Wales parliament which looks likely to curb those who buy apartments off the plan from being forced to complete the contract when the finished structure is found to have faults.

It will come too late for the owners caught in the repair bills for both Opel Towers and Mascot Towers but if it survives the progress promised it will give the  NSW Building Commissioner new powers to stop the rorts that are encompassing ever higher numbers of apartment owners with the need to finance repairs to new buiildings.

What makes this so promising is the bill has the support of the Berejiklian government, the Australian Labor Partty and the Greens.  Despite the failure of previous bills to gain accord this one was put together with the three parties finding issue on common principles.

Called the Residential Apartment Building Bill it would give the Commissioner the power to order  builders rectification and stop work orders.   One of its strongest powers would be the ability to withhold occupation certificates, which would stop buiilders or developers from forcing buyers to settle on properties with defects.

There is now the prospect that this will introduce a statutory duty of care allowing owners to sue those involved in the construction of a building with defects.  This has been what was sadly lacking and which led to the problems in Opel Towers and Mascot Towers.

Giving the Commissioner the necessary powers is one thing.  Ensuring that those powers are used to effect change will require the setting up of inspections to ensure standards are being met and that means access to the buiding in all stages of construction.  The Commissioner will need to have inspectors with the right grade of skills and this  was welcomed by Professionals Australia which said " the earlier this is put in place the better ".

This parlous building situation emerged when short cuts became customary on building sites and stress loads were often ignored.  The laws were already in place to stop this problem occurring, but the implementation of checks was weak.   We are about to enter a new regime and it is vital that everty stage of the building process meets thr accepted standard.   A law is only as good as the necessary input tio police it.

The end of shonky building practices seems to be in sight, provided the Commissioner is given the tools to do the job !