Residential Construction Law (LAWS70329)

Every year, about half of the value of construction activity in Australia relates to the construction and renovation of dwellings. The law relating to this activity is complex and multi-layered, involving difficult policy questions and significant statutory and regulatory intervention. These impact throughout the community. Despite this, residential construction law has, until recently, received relatively little attention from the majority of construction law practitioners. This subject seeks to address this deficiency and introduce students to an evolving area of construction law in a comparative context. Its focus is on Australia (primarily Victoria) but perspectives are offered from other members of the common law family of legal systems. The subject lecturers are Dr Matthew Bell (whose recently-awarded PhD was on residential construction regulation) and Suzanne Kirton (Judge of the County Court and Vice President of VCAT, with extensive practising experience in residential construction law).

Principal topics include:

• The regulatory problem of residential construction
• Common law rights and remedies
• The legislative and regulatory response
• The contractual matrix for residential construction
• Key issues in bringing residential construction claims
• How a residential building dispute is resolved in Victoria