Reference

Victoria’s building reforms, 2025 to 2027: what changes for builders

Victoria has rebuilt its domestic building system in two years. One regulator, the Building and Plumbing Commission, now takes the complaint, inspects, orders the fix and pays the claim. Owners can claim on home warranty while the builder is still trading, and rectification orders reach back ten years and go on a public register. The contracts law changes on 1 December 2026, and apartment developers lodge bonds from July 2027. This page sets out each change in date order, with its source, and what each one asks of the builder’s own record.

VICTORIA · DOMESTIC AND APARTMENT BUILDING·VERIFIED AGAINST THE SOURCES LINKED ·
In date order

The reforms, from the Commission to developer bonds

Three Acts and their regulations carry most of this. The Building Legislation Amendment (Buyer Protections) Act 2025 created the Commission and enabled home warranty, rectification orders and developer bonds. The Domestic Building Contracts Amendment Act 2025 rewrites the contract rules. The regulations under both were consulted on over the summer and made in June 2026. Each row links to the source it was checked against.

FromWhat changesApplies toWhat it asks of the recordSource
1 July 2025In forceThe Building and Plumbing Commission starts. The Victorian Building Authority, Domestic Building Dispute Resolution Victoria and the VMIA’s domestic building insurance business sit under one regulator.Everyone in domestic buildingOne body now takes the complaint, inspects, resolves the dispute, pays the claim and disciplines the practitioner. The same file follows the matter through all of it.
1 May 2026In forceNCC 2025 adopted in Victoria, with no transition period.Designers, builders, surveyorsInspection checklists written to the 2022 code need revising for work designed under the new one.
1 July 2026In forceFirst Resort Home Warranty replaces last-resort domestic building insurance for work over $20,000 on homes of three storeys or less. Owners can claim while the builder is still trading. Cover is up to $400,000; major defects are covered for 6 years and other defects for 2 years from completion, claimed within 12 months of the owner becoming aware.Domestic builders and their clientsA claim starts with a complaint notice from the owner. The builder has 28 days to respond, with 22 December to 10 January not counted. If the Commission finds the work defective it usually issues a rectification order before any payout.
1 July 2026In forceRectification orders. The Commission can order a builder, or for apartments a developer, to fix defective, non-compliant or incomplete work, up to 10 years after occupancy. The power reaches work finished before 1 July 2026.Builders and developersOrders are published on the public Register of Building Practitioners, which is mandatory, for orders issued in the last 5 years, and taken down once the order is complied with or set aside.
1 July 2026In forceMinimum financial requirements for registered domestic builders: a maximum construction capacity, net-asset thresholds, and quarterly management accounts above a capacity of $2 million.Registered domestic buildersFinancial records rather than defect records, but the same regulator reads both.
1 December 2026Passed, not yet in forceDomestic Building Contracts Amendment Act 2025. Deposit limits and progress-payment stages move into regulations, payments must be proportionate to the work done, cost escalation clauses only on contracts of $1 million or more and capped at 5%, separate preliminary agreements, one variation process for major contracts whoever asks for the change, and stronger rights for owners to end a contract.Domestic buildersEvery variation needs the same written trail whichever side raised it, and a progress claim needs evidence that the stage is actually done.
1 February 2027Made, not yet in forceBuilding manuals for new Class 1b, 2 and 3 buildings: permits, council documents, the common-property asset list, warranties, performance solutions, fire safety certificates and compliance reports, checked by the surveyor before the occupancy permit.Apartment and accommodation builders, owners corporationsThe handover pack becomes a regulated document that the owners corporation keeps up to date every year.
1 July 2027Made, not yet in forceDeveloper bonds for residential apartment buildings of four storeys or more with a building permit issued from this date: a 2% bond lodged before the occupancy permit.Developers, owners corporationsA building assessor inspects 15 to 18 months after occupancy and again at 21 to 24 months. The developer must fix what the first report finds. The owners corporation has 6 months from the final report to claim, and a clean final report releases the bond.

Scroll sideways on a phone. “Made, not yet in force” means the regulations exist and have a start date. Dates after 2026 can still move. Contracts over $16,000 signed before 1 July 2026 stay under the old insurance rules.

Not settled yet

What is still being decided

The deposit and progress-payment figures. The contracts Act moves them into regulations. Draft regulations were consulted on in August and September 2026, and the final figures had not been made when this page was checked. Until 1 December 2026 the current limits apply.

Extra mandatory inspections. Pre-lining and waterproofing inspection stages were proposed in 2025 and then removed from the building manuals regulations “to enable the development of an alternative approach”. The mandatory stages for a house are unchanged for now. Expect a second attempt.

What it means on site

Five things the reforms ask of a builder’s record

None of the new rules tells a builder how to keep records. All of them assume the builder has one. The common thread is evidence: a dated notice, a photo, a name against the check, and a decade of reach.

01
Answer a complaint notice inside 28 days, with evidence
The owner’s notice describes the defect with photos and the date they noticed it. Twenty-eight days is enough to inspect, decide and reply with a plan, if the job’s record is a search and not an archaeology project. The reply that holds up shows what was built, when, who checked it, and what you propose to do.
02
Keep the build record for ten years, not twelve months
A rectification order can arrive a decade after occupancy, about work finished before the power existed. The DLP folder that was archived when the retention came back is now the only thing between the builder and an order on the public register.
03
Prove a defect was fixed, not just attended
An order is removed from the register when it is complied with. Complied with means fixed and seen to be fixed: the after photo, the person who checked it, the date. “Plumber attended” is not compliance.
04
Treat variations as records, both directions
From 1 December the variation process on a major contract is the same whoever asks. The builder-initiated change needs the same written, dated trail as the owner’s, before the work, or it becomes the argument at the end.
05
Run the defects period as if an assessor is coming
From July 2027 on bonded apartment buildings, one is: at month 15 and again at month 21. A developer who already knows every open item by lot and common area, and who fixed it, reads the assessor’s report as a check on their own list.
Where IssuesId fits

A register that is still there in year ten

IssuesId is the defect and inspection register that runs from the first frame inspection to the end of the defects period, and keeps going after it. Every defect carries its photo with the upload time, the person who took it and the device’s own capture time where the phone records it. It is filed against the lot or the common area, and its lifecycle steps are role-gated and timestamped against a named user. A trade cannot close its own work: they mark it complete with an after photo, and someone on your side closes it.

When an owner’s complaint arrives, the defect goes on the register as a Warranty item and is issued to the trade by email with a no-login link. The Defect Notification report gives each contractor a PDF worded for the cost, with your coordinator’s name and signature on it. Every email the defect sends sits on its history with whether it was delivered. When the Commission or an assessor asks what happened, the Internal Detailed report prints the full record of notes, photos and drawings, and each defect’s history shows who did what, when, with what evidence.

Asked alongside

Questions about the Victorian reforms

What changed for Victorian builders on 1 July 2026?
Three things. First Resort Home Warranty replaced last-resort domestic building insurance for work over $20,000 on homes of three storeys or less, so owners can claim while the builder is still trading. The Building and Plumbing Commission gained the power to issue rectification orders, reaching back up to ten years after occupancy and covering work finished before the change. And registered domestic builders became subject to minimum financial requirements.
What is the Building and Plumbing Commission?
Victoria’s building regulator since 1 July 2025. It brought the Victorian Building Authority, Domestic Building Dispute Resolution Victoria and the VMIA’s domestic building insurance business under one roof, so the same body now takes a complaint, inspects, resolves the dispute, orders the fix and pays the warranty claim.
How long does a builder have to respond to a home warranty complaint notice?
Twenty-eight days from receiving the owner’s complaint notice, with 22 December to 10 January not counted. If the builder does not resolve it, the Commission assesses the claim, usually inspects, and if the work is defective usually issues a rectification order before any insurance payment is made.
When do the new domestic building contract rules start?
The Domestic Building Contracts Amendment Act 2025 is due to commence on 1 December 2026. It moves deposit limits and progress-payment stages into regulations, limits cost escalation clauses to contracts of $1 million or more with a 5% cap, adds separate preliminary agreements, sets one variation process for major contracts and strengthens owners’ rights to end a contract. The deposit and stage figures had not been finalised when this page was checked.
Do developer bonds apply to apartments being built now?
Only to residential apartment buildings of four storeys or more whose building permit is issued on or after 1 July 2027. For those, the developer lodges a 2% bond before the occupancy permit, a building assessor inspects at 15 to 18 months and 21 to 24 months after occupancy, and the owners corporation can claim on the bond for defects that remain unfixed.
About this page

General information drawn from the Victorian Government’s published releases, notices of decision and the regulatory impact statement, checked on . It is not legal advice. Commencement dates after 2026 can move and the deposit figures are not yet set. Your contract, the legislation and the Commission’s own guidance apply to your job. If a row is out of date, tell us and we will correct it. The statutory warranty periods in every state are on defects liability periods in Australia. The short answers are what is a rectification order? and what should a builder do with a complaint notice?

IssuesId