HUTCHINSON Builders has unveiled a second apartment development in Japan's booming Niseko region, following the success of its first project which sold out in just one day.
The ‘last resort’ warranty Insurance, which was scrapped by the Tasmanian government late last week, has seen hundreds of millions of dollars fall into the hands of insurance companies in recent years.
Unfortunately, consumers can only collect on warranty insurance if the builder dies, goes missing or becomes insolvent; even then insurance companies drag consumers through tribunals and the Courts in a bid not to pay out the warranties.State governments, in particular the New South Wales and Victoria governments, the HIA and MBA have all been major supporters and beneficiaries of the warranty insurance schemes through kickbacks from the warranties, which have been described as “worthless’ by Choice magazine.
The HIA and MBA continue to receive significant ‘commissions’ from insurance companies where warranty insurance remains mandatory whilst both the Victorian and NSW government remain silent on the issue of their mandatory warranty insurance schemes. Commissions to both the HIA and MBA make up a significant portion of both organisations yearly revenue.The Australian Consumers Association maintain their long held position that the ‘last resort’ insurance are junk policies that make a mockery of consumer protection while the Tasmanian Attorney General described it as ’not good enough for Tasmanian consumers and other measures without insurance would better protect his States building consumers’.
Critics of warranty insurance are hoping the Federal government’s Senate Inquiry, which will run for several months, will prove how “useless and worthless” the schemes are and assist in convincing State governments to fall inline with the recent Tasmanian government’s decision to scrap the insurance that has only filled the coffers of several state governments, the HIA, MBA and insurance companies.
Builders Collective National President Phil Dwyer, who has been victimised by group’s such as Vero Insurance and the HIA, believes the Senate Inquiry is the beginning of the end for warranty insurance.
“Little wonder Senator Christine Milne’s concern of the building industry circumstances saw her motion receiving all party support in the Senate that established this inquiry immediately to examine the initial implementation of the warranty regime and the change of the corporations regulation that removed all control by Federal and State authorities that saw builders underwrite their own insurance policies and their own businesses restricted by the arbitrary decisions of the insurers that imposed limits on their annual turnover and the size of homes they could build,” Mr. Dwyer told propertyreview.com.au yesterday.“The circumstance of builders underwriting their own insurance is the subject of a recent WA Judgment that states that the deeds and guarantees are illegal and unenforceable and the matter is a triable issue.”
