Answer

What should a builder do with a home warranty complaint notice in Victoria?

Treat the 28 days as the whole defence. Under Victoria’s First Resort Home Warranty, which started on 1 July 2026, an owner can claim while the builder is still trading, starting with a complaint notice. The builder has 28 days from receiving it to respond, with 22 December to 10 January not counted. Log the notice the day it arrives, inspect inside a week, and decide each item with a reason. Reply in writing with a plan and dates, then fix the accepted items with an after photo someone else checks. If the matter is not resolved, the Building and Plumbing Commission inspects and usually issues a rectification order. Those orders are published.

ANSWERED FROM THE PRODUCT DOCS·UPDATED OCTOBER 2026

What changed

The insurer used to arrive only when the builder had gone

Under the old domestic building insurance, a claim needed the builder to have died, disappeared or gone insolvent. For a trading builder, an unhappy owner meant dispute resolution and, a year later, VCAT. Now the owner’s notice starts a clock, the regulator is the next step, and the next step after that is an order with the builder’s name on a public register. The scheme covers work over $20,000 on homes of three storeys or less, up to $400,000 a home.

The builder who comes out of this well is not the one with the best letter. It is the one who can show, inside four weeks, what was built in that bathroom, who checked it, and what they will do about the crack.

The 28 days, in order

Five steps from notice to closed

1Day 1: log the notice, and the date it arrived
The 28 days run from receipt. Put the notice on the job’s register the day it lands, with each item as its own record: the owner’s description, their photos, the lot and the room. One record per item, because the answer will differ item by item.
2Week 1: inspect, and photograph what you find
Go and look. Your photos, with their capture times, sit on the same record as the owner’s. Pull up what the register already holds for that room: the frame and pre-plaster inspections, who signed off the waterproofing, the trade who did it.
3Decide each item, with a reason
Defect, not a defect, or not yours. Major defects are covered for six years and other defects for two years from completion. A refusal is safer item by item and in writing, with the reason and the evidence, because the Commission will read it if the claim goes further.
4Reply in writing, with a plan and dates
Answer inside the 28 days, not on day 27. Say which items you accept, when the trade will attend, and what access you need. Record the access you offer. “You would not let us in” only works if the dates are on the file.
5Fix it so it stays fixed
The trade attends, attaches an after photo, and someone on your side checks it before the item closes. That record is what stops the claim turning into a rectification order on the public register.

How it runs in IssuesId

The notice lands on the register you built the house with

Each item goes on the job’s register with Type Warranty, so it is counted apart from build defects. It is raised by the owner, picked from the project’s reporter directory with their contact details. It is filed to the room, next to every inspection and defect that room has had since the frame stage.

Issue it to the trade and they get it by email with a link that opens the job without a login. The Defect Notification report gives them a PDF worded for the cost, with your coordinator’s name and signature on it. If the trade says it is not theirs, they dispute it on the record and the ruling stays on the file. They cannot mark it complete without an after photo, and they cannot close it. Every email the defect sends sits on its history with whether it was delivered. On day 28 the record shows what you did and when, without anyone assembling it.

Asked alongside this one

How long does a builder have to respond to a complaint notice in Victoria?

Twenty-eight days from receiving it, under the First Resort Home Warranty that started on 1 July 2026. The period 22 December to 10 January is not counted. The notice applies to work over $20,000 on homes of three storeys or less.

What happens if the builder does not respond in time?

The owner’s claim goes to the Building and Plumbing Commission, which assesses it, usually inspects, and if the work is defective usually issues a rectification order. Orders are published on the public register, and if the builder does not comply the warranty pays the owner and the Commission can pursue the builder for the cost.

Does a builder have to accept every item in a complaint notice?

No. Major defects are covered for six years and other defects for two years from completion, and damage from misuse or lack of maintenance is not the builder’s. A refusal is safer in writing, item by item, with the reason and the evidence, because the Commission will read it later.

What record should a builder keep for a complaint notice?

The notice and the date it arrived, each item as its own record with the owner’s photos, the builder’s inspection with its own photos and capture times, the decision on each item with reasons, the written reply with dates, the access offered, and for each fix an after photo and the name of the person who checked it.

Read on

Where this answer comes from

The scheme and every other change, with sources, is on Victoria’s building reforms, 2025 to 2027. The docs behind this answer are defects (Type, reporters, disputes, emails on the trail), trades, tenants and clients and reports. Proving the fix is how do you prove a defect was fixed? This is general information, not legal advice; the regulations and the Commission’s guidance apply.