The Queensland Government has made moves to make it harder for builders to interfere the Building Services Authority (BSA) on disputes.

The Queensland Minister for Housing Tim Mander says the changes were tabled last week and are set to allow the Queensland Civil and Administrative Appeals Tribunal more control over building disputes. He says the move will close a loophole that has prevented BSA from supporting consumers during claims under the Home Warranty Insurance Scheme.

“Under existing legislation, once a dispute was lodged with the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT), the Building Services Authority (BSA) had its hands tied and could not give directions for dodgy work to be rectified or for an insurance claim to be paid out under the Home Warranty Scheme,” Mander said in a statement.

“The amendments in the Bill... will fix that, by letting the building industry watchdog make an application to the QCAT for an order to allow it to continue to act in a dispute while QCAT proceedings are underway.”

Queensland is currently experiencing a broad overhaul of building regulations as plans continue to abolish the BSA by early next year, and institute the new Queensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC) in its place.

The entire dispute system is set for a shake-up, with plans to make it faster and simpler for builders and consumers to settle disputes.

The Master Builders’ Association has welcomed the changes, the Housing Minister says they will set the industry up to work more sensibly in the future: “certain contractors were using this provision in the Act to prevent or delay the BSA from assisting consumers in a dispute... this is a common sense change and I’m confident it will help prevent some of the unnecessarily lengthy disputes that cause so much frustration within the industry.”