Update on NSW Home Warranty Reforms

The Home Building Amendment (Compensation Reform) Act 2017 No. 28 (NSW) was assented to on 27 June 2017.

The objects of the Act are to:

  • enable insurance against loss arising from non-completion of residential building work or breach of statutory warranties for residential building work, in cases where the builder dies, disappears or becomes insolvent, to be provided by private insurers as well as the NSW Self Insurance Corporation;
  • enable home building insurance (where there is a building contract) to be provided by one or two insurance contracts relating to losses incurred as a result of acts before and after completion of residential building work;
  • confer on the State Insurance Regulatory Authority (the SIRA) regulatory functions relating to home building insurance and private insurers who provide the insurance, including the power to establish mandatory guidelines about insurance premiums and other matters and the power to reject proposed insurance premiums;
  • prohibit claims made ten years or more after the work insured was completed;
  • establish the Home Building Operational Fund and the Home Building Insurers Guarantee Fund;
  • establish an indemnity scheme for claims relating to licensed insurers who become insolvent;
  • enable losses to be covered by alternative indemnity products instead of contracts of insurance, if the products are approved by the SIRA;
  • abolish the Fair Trading Administration Corporation; and
  • make other and related amendments to various legislation.

This affects the following legislation:

  • Home Building Act 1989 No. 147 (NSW);
  • NSW Self Insurance Corporation Act 2004 No. 106 (NSW); and
  • State Insurance and Care Governance Act 2015 No. 19 (NSW).

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