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buildingcertificate.com.auGuide 5 of 7 · When protection starts
Guide 5 of 7 · The issue line

The warranty and insurance clocks do not all start on the same day

The periods are the easy part, and they are not where the surprises live. Six years here, ten there, six and a half somewhere else: the number a reader remembers is rarely the number that decides their case. What decides it is the event each state starts counting from, and the six states in this guide start from four different events.

This is a guide published by Dotto, not a government page, and it is general information only. Every rule names the state or territory whose law makes it, with the official page linked in the sources list at the foot of this page.

Behind the lineinspections, declarations, feesThe certificatethe day it is signedIn front of itpossession, settlement, useThe clockswarranty periods by state
The issue line, with this guide’s own place on it: when protection starts.

Every bar below is the period its own state’s official page gives, drawn from the event that page starts it from. Each row’s length is years on one scale; each row’s zero is its own event, named at the bar’s left end.

  1. NSW Time to commence proceedings for a breach of statutory warranty

    from completion of the work 6 years, major defects
    from completion of the work 2 years, all other defects

    Building Commission NSW’s time limits table runs from completion of the work: major defects, 6 years, and all other defects, 2 years. 1

  2. VIC The statutory building warranties

    from the date the occupancy permit or certificate of final inspection was issued up to 10 years

    Consumer Affairs Victoria: the warranties apply for up to 10 years after the date the occupancy permit or certificate of final inspection was issued, even if the property sells several times. 2

  3. TAS The statutory warranties

    from the date of practical completion 6 years
    or, where that date cannot be shown, from the grant of the occupancy permit or of the approval for the work 6 years

    Building Standards Tasmania: the six years are measured from practical completion, and where nobody can establish that date, they are measured instead from the grant of the occupancy permit, or of the approval for the work. 3

  4. QLD Queensland home warranty cover

    from the earliest of the premium paid, the contract entered into, or the start of the work 6 years and 6 months

    The QBCC: the cover lasts 6 years and 6 months from the earliest of the three events named at the bar’s left end (it can be extended by 6 months). 4

  5. SA Defective works claims

    from the date the building work was completed up to 5 years, usually

    SA Government: defective works claims can usually be made up to 5 years from the date the building work was completed. 5

  6. WA Home indemnity insurance cover

    from the date of practical completion 6 years

    Building and Energy WA: the cover runs six years from practical completion and responds if the builder dies, vanishes or is insolvent. 6

This is the comparison no single source makes, because each source speaks for one jurisdiction. Drawn on one scale, the periods look similar: six years in New South Wales for major defects, six in Tasmania, six in Western Australia, five in South Australia, six years and six months in Queensland, ten in Victoria. Drawn from their own start events, they behave very differently, and the start events are what the bars at the top of this page draw.

New South Wales: two clocks, both from completion

New South Wales runs two periods on one start. The time limits for a homeowner to commence proceedings for a breach of statutory warranty are 6 years from completion of the work for major defects, and 2 years from completion of the work for all other defects. 1 The same agency describes the homeowner's underlying position in the same terms: statutory warranties of 6 years for major defects and 2 years for minor defects. 1

The start event matters twice over here. The clock is wound from completion of the work, not from the certificate and not from settlement, and the two periods run side by side: the shorter one is not a grace period inside the longer, it is a separate limit for a separate class of defect.

Victoria: ten years from the permit

Victoria's statutory building warranties apply to building work for up to 10 years after the date the occupancy permit or certificate of final inspection was issued, and they hold even if the property sells several times. 2 This is the one state in the guide whose ordinary clock starts at the certificate itself, which makes the document the guide is built around do double duty: in Victoria it gates possession of an off-the-plan apartment, 7 and it is also the date up to ten years of warranty run from.

Tasmania: six years from practical completion, with a fallback

Tasmania's statutory warranties run for six years, measured from practical completion. 3 Practical completion is a date, and dates can go unrecorded. The same page covers that: where nobody can establish it, the warranty clock is instead wound from the grant of the occupancy permit, or of the approval for the work. 3

That fallback is drawn as the dashed bar in the band above. It is the only bar in this guide that exists because a record might be missing rather than because the rule always runs that way, and it is worth knowing about before a dispute rather than after one: an owner who cannot show the practical completion date falls back to the permit, not to nowhere.

Queensland: six years and six months from the earliest of three events

Queensland's home warranty cover lasts for 6 years and 6 months from when the contract is entered into, or the premium is paid, or the work commences, whichever is the earliest; the same page adds that it can be extended by 6 months from the cover commencement day if the residential construction work took more than six months to complete. 4

The three events make the Queensland bar the only one in the guide whose start is chosen by comparison rather than named: whichever of the three happens first starts the cover. An owner who remembers only the contract date may be measuring from the wrong one of the three.

South Australia: usually up to five years from completion

South Australia's building indemnity insurance page carries a word the other pages do not: defective works claims can usually be made up to 5 years from the date the building work was completed. 5 The page puts the start event at completion of the building work, the same event New South Wales uses for its two clocks, and the word usually is the page's own.

Western Australia: six years of insurance cover from practical completion

Western Australia's home indemnity insurance, on Building and Energy's fact sheet, protects the owner and any later owner if the builder dies, vanishes or is insolvent. The cover runs six years from practical completion, and its two limits are $40,000 for a deposit that is lost and $200,000 for finishing or fixing the work. 6 This bar is drawn as insurance rather than as a warranty, because that is what the page describes: cover with two dollar limits, tied to practical completion, and triggered by what happens to the builder rather than by what happens to the building.

The handover window, before any of the clocks matter

Before the long clocks become relevant there is a shorter window at handover, and it is drawn on its own pages.

In New South Wales, contracts for new homes come with a warranty known as the defects and liability period, usually 13 weeks for new homes, and the same page asks a buyer to closely inspect the finished project and list any items of concern. 8 The same page explains why some early flaws are not defects at all: new building materials contain moisture that will eventually dry out, and small cracks may show in brick, timber and plaster-lined areas in the first 12 months. 8

In Queensland the handover window is stated as a duty on the contractor: a contractor must repair any defects noticed at handover or within 12 months of when the work is finished. 9

Read together, the three items draw a line inside the line: at handover, snags and small cracks are expected and the defect list is the tool. The statutory periods in the band above are for the problems that show up later, and they are measured from their own events, not from the day the keys were handed over.

What the clocks are for

Each sentence under the bars names its own source and its own state, and the comparison holds only as long as a reader keeps them apart. A period from completion, a period from a permit, a period from the earliest of three events and a period of insurance cover are four different instruments, and the guide is careful not to blend them into one number. If there is a single sentence worth taking away, it is the one the band exists to show: in this part of the law, when the clock starts is the rule.