Page 977 - Week 03 - Thursday, 21 March 2019
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further increased their enforcement activities over the last nine months. In that time, they have issued nine notices directing building work to be undertaken to address non-compliant buildings, one rectification order in relation to a multi-unit housing development in north Canberra, and 139 demerit points to construction licensees for issues including failing to comply with the building code.
Most recently, building inspectors issued 17 stop work notices to 12 different builders in Gungahlin for building work that was contrary to building standards and would have potentially led to ongoing problems for the eventual owners and occupiers. Builders continue to be held to account for their actions. In many cases, builders have had to not only rectify works but also lose time on site while rectification works are carried out.
From 1 July 2018 to date, Access Canberra has received 265 new and resolved 309 new and existing building and planning cases. Access Canberra continues to investigate a total of 187 active cases alleging breaches of the building and planning laws.
I am pleased to report that the rapid regulatory response pilot continues to improve how Access Canberra responds to building and planning complaints. Under this pilot, preliminary assessment of the issue occurs and determination of whether a breach may have occurred happens, wherever possible, within five working days from the receipt of a complaint. An important reason for the success of this approach is the team taking the time to talk and listen to all parties so that they can determine what the heart of the issue may be. The team has resolved 191 cases by engagement, education and negotiation without the need to undertake formal enforcement action, which gets outcomes for consumers more quickly and cheaply for those minor matters. For other cases, the team takes strong action when it needs to, including stop work notices and demerit points in relation to builders and building certifiers.
Demerit points are used when another regulatory action is not required. Points are recorded against a licensee and indicate where their practices need to change. The points stay on the licence for three years. If a licensee has 15 current points, the registrar must take formal action against them. If the team consider that the information they have gathered shows that the matter requires further investigation or more serious action, it is escalated to the building investigation team. To date, six of the cases referred for investigation have resulted in notices requiring a party to show cause why enforcement action should not be taken.
Madam Speaker, that is just a sample of the activities on the ground helping to make sure that buildings are meeting the building standards. The government is also helping building owners and purchasers by providing better and more easily located information. We have developed new guides for people buying into or living in unit titled or strata buildings. These guides cover what people may need to know before they purchase, for both existing buildings and off the plan, as well as covering management and maintenance issues.
The government is also developing a new portal for information on building. The portal will bring together up-to-date information for people engaging building
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