Victoria unveils further toughened building regulation reforms

The Building and Plumbing Administration and Enforcement Bill 2026 (Vic) (pdf, 636pages/2.4mb) (‘the Bill’) was passed in April 2026, and represents a major restructuring of Victoria’s regulatory framework with the objective of improving clarity, consistency and accountability across the lifecycle of building and plumbing work. 

It is due to come into operation by 1 December 2027 at the latest – but we expect it will likely be proclaimed to commence on an earlier date in due course.

The Bill is part of a broader, rapid overhaul of Victorian building regulations, running alongside the Cladding Safety Victoria Repeal Bill 2026 (pdf, 28pages/380kb) and earlier sweeping regulatory reforms introduced in 2024 and 2025.

New regulatory architecture

Central features of the Bill are the building system objectives and entity-specific objectives, which must be considered by all stakeholders when interpreting and administering building legislation.

The intended outcomes of the reformed building regulation framework include clearer accountability, stronger enforcement and disciplinary tools, improved technical consistency, enhanced consumer and systemic oversight, and greater transparency through reporting and publication of outcomes.

The Bill abolishes the previous Victorian Building Authority and instead formally establishes a new Building and Plumbing Commission (BPC), clarifying the roles of the BPC, councils and building surveyors. It also modernises the building dispute, review and permit levy frameworks.

Increased oversight and enforcement exposure

The key implications of the Bill for builders, developers and building surveyors, among other stakeholders, include substantially expanded compliance and enforcement mechanisms, altering the current regulatory risk profile in the delivery of building projects and defect management.

Enhancements to the regulatory framework include the consolidation of powers into the BPC, substantially broader entry and information-gathering powers backed by criminal offences, and greatly expanded corporate and personal accountability tools. It also introduces a wider range of enforcement responses – from infringement notices through to broad civil remedies and court orders.

Significantly, officers of bodies corporate, including directors, can now face accessorial criminal liability if they authorised, permitted, or were knowingly concerned in the corporation’s offence against specified provisions. The breadth of specified offences is wide, encompassing obligations under building permits, notifications during construction, compliance with directions and stop work notices, occupancy permits and registration obligations, among other areas.

Directors can also be made jointly and severally liable for compliance with certain directions and orders contravened by a body corporate via a “declared director notice” mechanism, covering directions to fix building work, rectification orders, emergency orders and building orders. The BPC is empowered to take enforcement action against those directors, after giving at least 28 days to demonstrate steps taken to comply.

The new legislation also introduces an “improvement notice” enforcement mechanism. This will mean that if the BPC reasonably believes a person has contravened, is contravening or is likely to contravene building legislation, a building permit, registration or licence conditions, or has engaged in activities threatening health or safety, it can issue “improvement notices” requiring remedies or preventative action. 

Non-compliance with an improvement notice is an offence, with penalties ranging from A$100,000 to A$510,000 for natural persons and companies unless a reasonable excuse exists.

The Bill also provides the minister and the BPC with step-in powers over municipal and private building surveyors. These are applicable to private building surveyors on an escalating basis, with the most significant exposure being the manager appointment regime. The regime places the surveyor’s business under external control.

For builders and developers, the combination of expanded enforcement tools, significantly higher civil penalties and enhanced director accountability means compliance with increased regulation must be actively considered and managed.

Building surveyors specifically face strengthened independence obligations, which sit alongside greater ministerial and BPC oversight - with binding determinations, step‑in powers and an expanded disciplinary regime likely to constrain professional discretion and elevate business continuity risk.
The Bill also re-establishes the Building Appeals Board as the Building Appeals Tribunal, which will remain an independent statutory-merits review body with the power to resolve building-specific disputes.

Implications

The Bill is a significant shift toward earlier and more interventionist regulation.

Practically, construction industry participants will need to develop an understanding of the new legislative framework that consolidates and significantly builds on what was previously dispersed across the Building Act 1993 (Vic) and the Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995 (Vic) among other building legislation. 

This means early engagement with the reforms will be essential to ensure compliance ahead of commencement.

Industry participants and stakeholders — including builders, developers and building surveyors — should familiarise themselves with the Bill's key reforms now and review their governance and risk oversight models to manage the practical consequences of the changes.

Co-written by Tran Nguyen of Pinsent Masons