PHOTO: When a project’s surveyor cannot complete the job, a home can become “orphaned”.(ABC News: Ian Cutmore)
Thousands of Victorian homeowners are being stranded with “orphaned” houses they cannot live in because of regulatory failures and bureaucratic dithering, according to industry experts.
Key points:
- One Victorian family have been kicked out of the house they built and have endured months in “limbo”
- The issue, driven in large part by insurance premiums, is in the too-hard basket for some authorities
- The Victorian government says councils should be able to deal with the problem
The Australian Institute of Building Surveyors (AIBS), which represents private and munipal construction inspectors, says there are up to 20,000 orphaned building permits across Victoria.
The term refers to permits that cannot be completed because a project’s building surveyor is no longer in business and no other surveyors are willing to take on the job due to crippling insurance liabilities.
Wayne Liddy from the AIBS said the phenomenon was a growing problem that was leaving thousands of consumers in the lurch and unable to live in their homes for months or even years at a time.
He said the institute had been warning authorities about orphaned building permits for more than a decade and called on the Victorian government to intervene.
“It’s very widespread,” Mr Liddy said.
“I would suggest that there would be an experience, and multiple experiences, in the majority of municipalities around Victoria.
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