Tuesday, 30 April 2024

Home building industry

Kim WELLS (Rowville) (13:23): I rise to bring the Parliament’s attention to the rising number of fraudulent builders within Victoria and my electorate of Rowville. Just recently constituents contacted my office to convey their horror stories when dealing with builders who are regularly leaving works that are either incomplete or defective, often in blatant disregard for current building regulations. One constituent has had four properties affected by these deceitful builders, and 11 other dwellings owned by different residents are also affected by the same builder. Unfortunately this constituent is still waiting for the Victorian Building Authority and Consumer Affairs Victoria to act on her complaint, having first raised her complaint way back in May of 2021 with both of these authorities. At a time when we are in a housing crisis the absolute last thing we need is poorly built homes putting more Victorians at risk, and I would urge this government to make a priority of cracking down on these builders preying on vulnerable Victorians. We have also written to the appropriate minister and wait with anticipation for the response.