More builders and developers will choose to “go bust” instead of being held accountable to owners’ corporations (OCs) for dodgy building defects.

More consumer protection is required for Victoria’s $343 billion property sector in these uncertain times, as higher construction materials costs begin to bite, and higher interest rates continues to take the wind out of the sails of the booming property market.

More than 1.6 million Victorians (25 per cent of the population) now live or work in an OC building. However, light-touch building standards and the Victorian Building Authority’s failure to use its enforcement powers over the past 20 years has led to a decline in building standards for high-rise apartment buildings.

An OC recently found out the hard way, when the builder it had taken to VCAT for building defects slipped into voluntary liquidation shortly before the hearing commenced, leaving the OC out of pocket and unable to chase any other wrongdoers in the matter.

In my view, this is a cautionary tale for consumers and investors of apartment buildings and the lessons ought to be heeded by other OCs, otherwise the same thing could happen to them.

Ascot Constructions Pty Ltd [In Liq.] constructed a three-storey…