State too slow protecting home buyers from defective building works: Labor

Labor's Shadow Construction Minister, Jen Butler, spoke with a Primrose Sands couple she said had defective work done on their property that meant they could not complete or even live in it.

The case had parallels with others in the North-West, including home buyers left in the lurch - some with defective building work - when a company called Golden Homes collapsed.

Ms Butler on February 11 said there was no scope for the Primrose Sands couple - Kevin Haley and Sonia Gardner - to pursue a solution until new laws were enacted.

"In July 2023, the Residential Building (Miscellaneous Consumer Protection Amendments) Act 2023 passed parliament, but, some seven months on, it is still to be proclaimed," Ms Butler said.

"Despite the act being passed by both houses and provided royal assent by the Governor, Minister for Workplace Safety and Consumer Affairs Madeleine Ogilvie has not implemented these reforms."

Ms Butler said the parliament heard harrowing stories of consumers brought to the brink by defective building and construction work and was told the act would be implemented as soon as possible.

"Why hasn't Minister Ogilvie done anything?" she said.

"Home owners who have lost everything have been let down by this government."

With Premier Jeremy Rockliff having threatened to call an early election and ongoing uncertainty at the time of writing about whether or when that would happen, Ms Butler said the government was more focussed on itself than on the things that mattered to Tasmanians.

Comment was sought from the government.

It referred the inquiry to building regulator CBOS.

A CBOS spokesperson said the new legislation aimed to introduce stronger protections for consumers and provide a greater ability for them to resolve disputes with builders.

They said CBOS was working with "stakeholders" and putting in place capacity to ensure the new provisions could be enforced.

"The new provisions will be proclaimed as soon as possible once that capacity is in place," they said.

"While this work is ongoing, the building and disputes team within CBOS' compliance and dispute resolution unit continues to attend to building enquiries and complaints from consumers, local councils and builders."

Ms Ogilvie in January said: "Our Residential Building (Home Warranty Insurance Amendments) Act 2023, which recently received royal assent, makes it mandatory for building contractors to take consumer protection on behalf of homeowners."

"This reform corrects the damage done by Labor, who abolished the requirement for home warranty insurance when they were in government, leaving Tasmanians with limited protection or recourse if their builder became insolvent."

Ms Ogilvie said the government established a financial assistance package in March 2022 after an increase in building contractors becoming insolvent.

Former Golden Homes customer Tasha Jordan supports the new laws.

However, she also wants the government to financially rescue people who have already been left left with incomplete or defective housing.

She said there were so many obvious problems with her and Ken Belbin's intended dream home at Turners Beach that it had become something of a tourist attraction.

The couple cannot afford to have the house demolished and replaced, as other builders advised.

Ms Jordan said the situation had been an uphill battle.

"How, in a world where just about everything is regulated and sometimes over regulated, did this home slip through all the relevant parties' hands and no one picked up any mistakes until it landed in our hands?" she said.

"It's unbelievable.

"The homes that sit to this day, unfinished and defective, now look like abandoned buildings from a haunted movie.

"No one deserves to have this happen to them."

Ms Jordan said the financial assistance package had covered only a fraction of the amount she and Mr Belbin needed to have a satisfactory new home and had largely gone on legal fees.