Important for Australian Architects, designers and construction professionals.
The following is Legislation change that affects the industry in Australia.
It is important that all involved in our industry are aware of the new legislation just passed in NSW and soon to be implemented in QLD and other states.
“For the first time, the law recognises fire safety and waterproofing issues as major elements in a building’s structure,” NSW Minister for Fair Trading, Matthew Mason-Cox said. Fair Trading’s explanation of the changes, under the section ‘Disputes, defects and statutory warranties’ states:
“The existing defence remains and a new defence is provided.
“If a consumer claims a breach of a statutory warranty, the builder or trades person may defend the claim if defective work resulted from reasonable reliance on the written instructions of a professional acting for and engaged by the consumer before the work commenced. The professional may be an architect, engineer, surveyor or someone else with specialist or expert knowledge relevant to residential building work, and must be independent of the builder or trades person.”
Okay so lets break it down what are the pros and what are the con’s?
The Pro’s
The law will make professionals in the industry more diligent as essentially it is making people responsible for their own documentation. To the experienced user it will most likely have no effect whatsoever as they have made their mistakes and learned from them.
The Con’s
- New Building designers, architects ETC could now be potentially litigated for millions of dollars.
- Simple mistakes or typos could be taken literally by the builder and you could be held responsible.
- Less detail being added to the plan, making plans harder to decipher and more expensive to build.
So what are the remedies?
- Limit your liability and increase your skill set by joining a reputable association such as the Building Designers Association
- Professional indemnity insurance is paramount for professionals in our industry, the Building Designers association has relationships with the PI insurances.
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