Nicheliving has convinced a judge to stay a decision not to renew its builder's registration, after appealing to the State Administrative Tribunal.
Nicheliving has convinced a judge to stay a decision not to renew its builder's registration, after appealing to the State Administrative Tribunal.
The Building and Services board refused to renew the builder’s registration in July, prompting Nicheliving to escalate the matter to the SAT earlier this month.
Nicheliving claimed it was unable to carry out construction works on hundreds of its affected customers and sought a stay, or suspension, of the board’s decision while the SAT appeal was being heard.
SAT president Kathleen Glancy today delivered the tribunal’s judgment to grant a stay in the proceedings.
Justice Glancy told the tribunal many Nicheliving customers had applied to recoup their losses through indemnity insurance.
“Many customers would think the [Building & Services] board’s decision to be a relief, many of those people may find a review and stay application to be a source of further uncertainty and distress,” she said.
“Nevertheless, further confusion and uncertainty may be caused had a stay not been granted.
"When we have regard to the following factors, progress on the customer homes could be continued if a stay is granted."
Justice Glancy said there was no evidence that the selected insurer would pay out on any of the customers' claims or if the affected clients would be able to find alternative builders to complete their homes.
"The applicant submits that it was unlikely to have homes completed in a timely fashion by any other builder," she said.
"There is no evidence as to the number of builders on that list [on insurer's website] or when they might be available... therefore we can place little reliance to the existence of those builders."
Despite this, Justice Glancy told the tribunal it was unlikely Nicheliving would be able to have 225 homes completed in the next six months as the builder estimated.
The Building Services Board announced on 31 July it had refused to renew the building contractor registration of Projex Management & Construction Pty, trading as Nicheliving.
Building Commissioner Saj Abdoolakhan said the decision came after a detailed review.
“Applications are thoroughly assessed to ensure registration is granted only to building service providers who meet a range of requirements set out in legislation,” he said at the time.
“For building contractors, this includes the capacity to meet debts as and when they fall due, showing they have the financial means to complete building contracts."
He added that the board had “given the company many opportunities to come back and give us additional information to reassure us and the board".
Mr Abdoolakhan said Nicheliving had co-operated with the board, but the information had not been taken at face value.
“We had to cross verify, cross examine that information given to us, and undertook some inspections on site to check the validity of the information given to us,” he said.
Justice Glancy today told the tribunal Nicheliving's review application of the board's decision would be expedited.
