New South Wales Consolidated Acts

HOME BUILDING ACT 1989 - SECT 40

40 Renewal or restoration of authorities

(1) The Director-General must reject an application for the renewal or restoration of an authority if:

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

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

(c) the applicant is disqualified by this Act or the regulations from holding the authority or would be so disqualified when the renewal would take effect, or

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

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

(2) The Director-General may reject an application for renewal or restoration of an authority if:

(a) further particulars requested from the applicant are outstanding, or

(b) the authority is surrendered or cancelled before it is due to expire, or

(e) a judgment against the applicant for money owed to the Director-General is not satisfied, or

(f) the authority is a provisional authority, or

(g) the Director-General is empowered to reject the application by the regulations.

(2A) The Director-General must reject an application for renewal or restoration of a contractor licence if the Director-General is not satisfied that the applicant has complied or is able to comply with any requirements of Part 6 and any requirements of the regulations relating to insurance applicable to the doing of work of a kind authorised or proposed to be authorised by the contractor licence.

(2B) The Director-General may reject an application for renewal or restoration of a contractor licence if an employee or proposed employee of the applicant is disqualified from holding such a licence, has had an application for such a licence rejected on a ground relating to his or her character, honesty or integrity or has had such a licence cancelled or suspended on a disciplinary ground.

(2D) The Director-General may approve further education courses, or other training, that must be completed by specified persons before an application for renewal or restoration of an authority can be accepted.

(2E) The Director-General may reject an application for renewal or restoration of an authority if the Director-General is not satisfied that, in the year before the authority is proposed to be renewed or restored:

(a) the applicant, or

(b) in the case of an applicant that is a corporation, the directors of that corporation or any class of persons specified by the Director-General, or

(c) in the case of an applicant that is a partnership, each partner or any class of persons specified by the Director-General, or

(d) an employee of the applicant,

has undertaken or completed, for at least as many hours as are required by the Director-General, the further education course or courses, or other training, approved by the Director-General for the purposes of this section.

(3) The Director-General may also reject an application for restoration of an authority if the Director-General is not satisfied that:

(a) failure to apply for renewal of the authority before it expired was due to inadvertence, or

(b) it is just and equitable to restore the authority.

(4) The Director-General may, under subsection (3), reject an application for restoration if:

(a) it requests the applicant or a nominee of the applicant to appear at a reasonable time at an office of the Department of Fair Trading to be examined concerning the merits of the application, and

(b) the applicant or nominee fails to so attend or fails to answer any question put (whether or not at such an examination) by or on behalf of the Director-General and reasonably related to ascertaining the merits of the application.