Victorian building laws are broken – and families like mine are paying the price.

The Victorian Building Authority (VBA), tasked with ensuring building standards and protecting consumers, is failing us. Systemic loopholes in current legislation and regulations create space for registered practitioners to exploit the system with little oversight and consequence. Meanwhile, consumers are left unprotected, facing devastating financial and emotional consequences due to systemic failures with little to no recourse.   

I am speaking out not just for my family – but for all Victorians suffering in silence under this broken system.

🏚 Our Story 🏚

Over 3 years ago, my family of five began building what we hoped would be our forever home. Instead, we found ourselves caught in a web of core systemic issues:

• Forgery of Domestic Building Insurance (DBI) certificate by the builder – a document legally required to protect us.
• Unregistered practitioners
• Project abandonment by the builder
• Incomplete, defective, and non-compliant work
• No access to mediation or compensation through existing avenues due to the invalid DBI certificate
• Crippling financial and emotional strain, with no aid from regulatory bodies and authorities, and no means to fund legal support

Over a year after the builder’s registration was publicly suspended by the VBA, we remain trapped. There is no justice, no resolution, no support, and no compensation. Our family continues to pay a mortgage on an incomplete home.

🏛 This Isn’t Just Us – It’s Systemic 🏛 

Our case is not isolated. Regarding our builder alone, 163 cases of forged DBI certificates were found.

The VBA failed to act for over 7 months on this case. Another victim of the builder reported the forgery to the VBA in August 2023. Only after I reported and escalated the forgery to the VBA, Planning Minister and our local MP in April 2024, was the builder finally suspended. The VBA’s inaction and negligence left us, and many other Victorians like us open to exploitation.

🔍 Issues Enabling the Crisis 🔍

Our family’s case highlighted serious legislative gaps and VBA mismanagement:

1. No Verification of DBI Before Permit Issuance

• The Building Regulations Act (2018) has no requirement to confirm the legitimacy of DBI certificates before issuing permits.

2. Loopholes in Permit Application Form (Form 1)

• The current Form 1 only requires the builder and document preparers to be listed, excluding other building practitioners involved in the project, allowing unregistered individuals to work without oversight.

3. Negligence by the VBA in Response to Serious Complaints Against Registered Practitioners

• A complaint of forgery implicating 163 cases was left unaddressed by the VBA for over 7 months.

🗣 We Need a Royal Commission 🗣

The building industry is critical to our state’s economy and wellbeing, and we need a system that protects all involved. We need a Royal Commission to:

✅ Identify and document systemic failures

✅ Formally investigate the VBA’s inaction and lack of accountability

✅ Close legal loopholes

✅ Provide recourse to impacted consumer-victims

✅ Protect both consumers and upstanding practitioners

✅ Restore faith in the system

We all deserve to be able to have a place we can call home, and feel protected when seeking this. Victorians deserve true accountability, transparency, and the right to justice when wronged.

We are calling for a Royal Commission into the VBA and Victorian Building Legislation and Regulations.

📢 Please Sign and Share This Petition 📢

Every signature adds pressure to demand urgent reform. We need to stand together – as consumers, builders, and as Victorians – and demand a building system that works for the people.

Victorians deserve better. The time for action is NOW.