House Contracts Guarantee (HIH Further Amendment) Act 2002 (Vic)

House Contracts Guarantee (HIH Further

Amendment) Act 2002

Act No. 25/2002

TABLE OF PROVISIONS

Section Page

1.	Purpose	1
2.	Commencement	1
3.	Principal Act	2
4.	Interpretation	2
5.	New section 36A inserted	3
36A.	Existing proceedings to be affected by amendments	3
6.	Indemnity	3
7.	Who is not covered by the indemnity?	4
8.	New Schedule inserted	6
SCHEDULE—Saving of Claims	6

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ENDNOTES 7

i

Victoria

No. 25 of 2002

House Contracts Guarantee (HIH

Further Amendment) Act 2002†

[Assented to 12 June 2002]

The Parliament of Victoria enacts as follows:

1. Purpose

The purpose of this Act is to make various
amendments to the House Contracts Guarantee
Act 1987 in relation to the Domestic Building

(HIH) Indemnity Scheme.

2. Commencement

This Act is deemed to have come into operation
on 8 June 2001.

House Contracts Guarantee (HIH Further Amendment) Act
2002

Act No. 25/2002 s. 3

3. Principal Act

See:

In this Act, the House Contracts Guarantee Act	Act No.
1987 is called the Principal Act.	44/1987 Reprint No. 4 as at
8 June 2001 and
amending Act No.
44/2001. LawToday:
dpc.vic.
gov.au

4. Interpretation

(1) In section 35 of the Principal Act insert the

following definitions—

' "building owner" has the same meaning as it

has in the Domestic Building Contracts Act

1995;

"building site" has the same meaning as it has in

the Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995;

"developer" in relation to a HIH policy, means

any building owner or other person for
whom three or more homes were being or

were proposed to be built—

(a) on any one building site; or

(b) on more than one building site under a major domestic building contract—

at the time that the building work to which

the HIH policy applied commenced;

"home" has the same meaning as it has in the
Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995;
"major domestic building contract" has the

same meaning as it has in the Domestic

Building Contracts Act 1995;'.

House Contracts Guarantee (HIH Further Amendment) Act
2002

s. 5 Act No. 25/2002

(2) At the end of section 35 of the Principal Act

insert—

"(2) In calculating the number of homes that were

being built or were proposed to be built for
the purposes of determining whether a
building owner or other person is a
developer, a home which was or was to be
the principal place of residence of that
building owner or person is to be

disregarded.".

5. New section 36A inserted

After section 36 of the Principal Act insert—

"36A. Existing proceedings to be affected by

amendments

To avoid doubt it is declared that the
amendments made to this Part by the House
Contracts Guarantee (HIH Further
Amendment) Act 2002 are intended to
affect the rights of parties to proceedings
commenced in any court or tribunal but not
finally determined before the date on which

that Act received the Royal Assent.".

6. Indemnity

At the end of section 37 of the Principal Act

insert—

"(2) Despite any provision of a HIH policy which

limits the liability of HIH if it ceases to
trade, a person is deemed for the purposes of
this section to be entitled to an indemnity
under a HIH policy if that person would have
been entitled to that indemnity if HIH had
not ceased to trade.".

House Contracts Guarantee (HIH Further Amendment) Act
2002

Act No. 25/2002 s. 7

7. Who is not covered by the indemnity?

(1) After section 38(1)(a) of the Principal Act

insert—

"(aa) to the developer covered by the HIH policy,

or".

(2) After section 38(1)(b) of the Principal Act

insert—

"(ba) to any loss indemnified under the HIH policy

that is a not a loss of a kind required by the
relevant order under section 135 of the

Building Act 1993 to be indemnified; or".

(3) After section 38(2) of the Principal Act insert—

"(3) Section 37 does not apply to indemnify a

loss if the indemnity for that loss under the

HIH policy arises solely because—

(a)	a claim for the loss has been made on the HIH policy on or after 16 December 2000; and
(b)	the claim is deemed to have been accepted under the HIH policy because it was not dealt with by HIH within the period specified by the policy.

(4) Nothing in sub-section (3) prevents

section 37 from applying to indemnify a loss
to the extent that the loss is indemnified
under the HIH policy otherwise than in the

circumstances set out in sub-section (3).

(5) If—

(a) a builder is entitled to an indemnity under a HIH policy in relation to building work; and

House Contracts Guarantee (HIH Further Amendment) Act
2002

s. 7 Act No. 25/2002

(b)	the HIH policy was issued to comply with an order made before October 1998 under section 135 of the Building Act 1993; and
(c)	the building owner of the building work to which the HIH policy applies is not entitled to an indemnity under the HIH policy; and
(d)	the builder is not entitled to an indemnity under section 37 in respect of the indemnity under the HIH policy because of sub-section (1)(a)—

the building owner is entitled to an
indemnity under section 37 in respect of a
loss to the same extent that the builder would
have been entitled under that section in
respect of that loss if sub-section (1)(a) had

not been enacted.

(6) The exclusion by sub-section (1)(aa) of a

developer covered by a HIH policy from an
indemnity under section 37 in respect of
building work does not affect the right of
any person who is the subsequent owner of
the building or land on which the building
work was carried out and who is covered by
that HIH policy to an indemnity under

section 37.

(7) The exclusion by sub-section (1)(aa) of a

developer covered by a HIH policy from an
indemnity under section 37 in respect of

building work does not apply to—

(a) a person specified in the Schedule in respect of a claim lodged by that person with HGFL on the date specified in the Schedule in respect of that person;

House Contracts Guarantee (HIH Further Amendment) Act
2002

Act No. 25/2002 s. 8

(b) HGFL before 1 November 2001 if
settlement of the claim was reached
with HGFL before the date on which
the House Contracts Guarantee (HIH

a developer who lodged a claim with received the Royal Assent.".

8. New Schedule inserted

After Part 6 of the Principal Act insert—

SCHEDULE

Saving of Claims

Claimant	Date of Lodgement of Claim
ANZ Banking Group	23 October 2001
Ltd
A.C.N. 005 357 522
Ausland Investment	5 October 2001
Group Pty Ltd
A.C.N. 081 206 340
Ausvimex Pty Ltd	30 July 2001
A.C.N. 077 213 917
Louis Basil Bourazikas	8 August 2001
Forty Fifth Vilmar Pty	3 August 2001
Ltd
A.C.N. 007 164 383
Leicester Turtle Pty Ltd	1 August 2001
A.C.N. 086 751 224
Tambo Ash Pty Ltd	16 August 2001
A.C.N. 067 404 602

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House Contracts Guarantee (HIH Further Amendment) Act
2002

Endnotes Act No. 25/2002

ENDNOTES

†

Minister's second reading speech—

Legislative Assembly: 1 November 2001

Legislative Council: 29 November 2001

The long title for the Bill for this Act was "to further amend the House
Contracts Guarantee Act 1987 in relation to the Domestic Building
(HIH) Indemnity Scheme and for other purposes."