New South Wales Consolidated Acts

HOME BUILDING ACT 1989 - SECT 20

20 Issue of contractor licences

(1) The Director-General must reject an application for a contractor licence if:

(a) the Director-General is not satisfied that the applicant is a fit and proper person to hold a contractor licence, or

(b) the applicant is a mentally incapacitated person, or

(c) the applicant is disqualified by this Act or the regulations from holding a contractor licence.

Note: Under section 6 of the applied Act (within the meaning of section 19) an application for the grant of a contractor licence may be made by any individual aged 18 years or more, by any partnership or other association whose members are all individuals aged 18 years or more or by any corporation.

(1A) Without limiting subsection (1) (a), in determining whether an applicant is a fit and proper person to hold a licence the Director-General is to consider whether the applicant is of good repute, having regard to character, honesty and integrity.

(2) The regulations may fix or provide for the Director-General to determine additional standards or other requirements that must be met before any contractor licence is issued or before a contractor licence of a particular kind is issued.

(3) The Director-General must reject an application for a contractor licence if:

(a) the Director-General is not satisfied that any such requirement would be met were the contractor licence to be issued, or

(b) the Director-General is not satisfied with the applicant’s proposed arrangements for supervision of the work which the contractor licence will authorise the applicant to contract to do, or

(c) the Director-General is not satisfied that the applicant has complied or is able to comply with any requirements of Part 6 or any requirements of the regulations relating to insurance applicable to the doing of work of a kind proposed to be authorised by the contractor licence.

(5) A decision of the Director-General relating to determining standards or other requirements under subsection (2) cannot be reviewed by the Administrative Decisions Tribunal in an application for review made under this or any other Act.

(6) Without limiting this section, the Director-General may reject an application for a contractor licence if the Director-General is of the opinion that it is in the public interest to do so on any of the following grounds:

(a) an employee or proposed employee of the applicant is disqualified from holding a contractor licence, has had an application for an authority rejected on a ground relating to his or her character, honesty or integrity or has had an authority cancelled or suspended on any disciplinary ground,

(b) there are reasonable grounds to believe that the application has been made with the intention of avoiding disclosure of any relevant past misconduct of the applicant or a close associate of the applicant,

(c) the Director-General considers that a close associate of the applicant who would not be a fit and proper person to hold a contractor licence exercises a significant influence over the applicant or the operation and management of the applicant’s business.