Joint Statement - Homebuyers left high and dry as Labor ghosts them

Joint Statement – Homebuyers left high and dry as Labor ghosts them

Evan Mulholland, Shadow Minister for Home Ownership and Housing Affordability

James Newbury, Shadow Minister for Planning

7 February 2024.

Victorian homebuyers who have been left without the protection of compulsory domestic building insurance (DBI) following the collapse of Montego Homes have today gathered on the steps of Parliament House calling on the Allan Government to act.

Under existing Victorian legislation, no money, including deposit money, is payable under a domestic building contract before a suitable DBI policy has been issued.

However, the collapse of Porter Davis revealed widespread non-compliance with Victoria’s DBI requirements – a practice that continues to occur in a clear regulatory failure by the Allan Government.

Labor’s Liquidated Builders Customer Support Payment Scheme for victims of the Porter Davis collapse only applies for homebuilder insolvencies which occurred during the 2022-23 financial year.

As such, victims of Montego Homes are excluded from this scheme despite suffering the same failure of DBI compliance and enforcement as Victorians with Porter Davis and other homebuilders.

Shadow Minister for Home Ownership and Housing Affordability, Evan Mulholland, said: “It is quite clear that serious issues with domestic building insurance non-compliance have not been addressed by Labor.

“Victorians continue to lose their home deposits because of Labor’s incompetence so we again call on the Allan Government to extend the support scheme until the failures occurring under Labor’s watch are resolved.”

Shadow Minister for Planning, James Newbury, said: “Jacinta Allan and her Government need to stop ignoring the victims of the latest collapsed developer. Why is the Government refusing to support many of the victims?

“Labor has failed to fix the real problems in the housing market. The Minister for Planning is asleep at the wheel and the Premier has chosen to stick her head in the sand. With every day that passes, more people are getting hurt.”

James Newbury, Shadow Minister for Planning

Evan Mulholland, Shadow Minister for Home Ownership and Housing Affordability