Victorian Building Authority Crackdown on ‘Bad Practice’

Just five months after its board was dissolved, the Victorian Building Authority (VBA) has announced its determination to chase down unpaid penalties from bad-practice tradies.

The crackdown on outstanding penalties follows the building regulator collecting $2 million in fines from builders, building surveyors and plumbers in FY2023 and FY2024.

The VBA could not provide an exact list of the fees charged or what they were for; however, the Building Act 1993 offences include non-compliant work, fraudulent conduct, failure to comply with rectification notices and failure to be appropriately licensed or registered.

More than $1.5 million in fines were collected from builders and building surveyors and more than $530,000 from plumbers in the period from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2024.

The $2-million figure also didn’t include a $250,000 fine that Aycon Constructions and Building Services incurred in May for completing more than 200 building projects between 2018 and 2024 without insurance.

Aycon director Seyit Ayranci’s registration was cancelled and he was disqualified from working for three years.

The VBA’s board was dissolved in March after three years of concerns surrounding toxic workplace allegations and the suicide of a VBA building inspector.

▲ IBAC is investigating the Victorian Building Authority for corruption over registrations.

This month, the VBA’s policing manager—the Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission (IBAC)—charged two employees for allegations of assessing builder registrations in exchange for financial benefit.

New VBA commissioner and chief executive Anna Cronin told The Urban Developer that more people were also being investigated.

Meanwhile, VBA inspectors have undertaken hundreds of “virtual”—rather than onsite audits of sites despite receiving legal recommendations that virtual audits breached Victoria’s Building Act laws.

The building regulator is also determined to “ramp up its recovery process for outstanding penalties”.

The VBA did not return The Urban Developer’s calls, however, its press release on this issue stated that the group’s clampdown on outstanding penalties is part of wider reforms under way.

These reforms aim to prioritise and protect consumers and improve the VBA’s regulatory effectiveness.

It stated that the collection of the $2 million in fees was a result of streamlining processes, including a targeted strategy to ensure practitioners with unpaid fines were held to account.

The group also recommended Victorian homeowners check the VBA website to ensure builders and plumbers were registered or licensed and were not subject to disciplinary action.