New South Wales Consolidated Acts

HOME BUILDING ACT 1989 - SECT 42A

42A Automatic suspension of licence for failure to comply with order to pay money in relation to building claim

(1) In this section:
"building claim" has the same meaning as in Part 3A, and includes a claim for the payment of an unspecified sum of money that arises from a supply of building goods or services as referred to in section 48A.
"licence" means a contractor licence (whether or not an endorsed contractor licence).

(2) If the holder of a licence fails to comply with an order of a court or the Tribunal to pay an amount of money in respect of a building claim by the due date, the licence is, subject to this section, suspended until such time as the Director-General is satisfied that the order has been complied with.

(3) For the purposes of this section, the "due date" for payment of an amount of money in respect of a building claim is:

(a) the end of the time limit specified in the order for payment, or

(b) if no such time limit is specified in the order-the end of the period determined by the Director-General.

(4) The suspension of the licence takes effect:

(a) 28 days after the due date for payment, or

(b) if the Director-General is, before the end of that 28-day period, provided with a copy of an order staying the operation of the decision of the court or the Tribunal pending an appeal against the decision-as soon as the decision of the court or the Tribunal is confirmed on appeal.

Note: In the case of an order of the Tribunal, section 69 of the Consumer, Trader and Tenancy Tribunal Act 2001 provides that an appeal against (or an application for a rehearing of) the Tribunal’s decision does not automatically affect the operation of the decision. However, an order may be made under that section to stay the operation of the Tribunal’s decision.

(5) The Director-General may, by notice in writing to the holder of a licence, defer the operation of the suspension of the licence under this section for any period up until the date on which the licence is due for renewal.

(6) A decision by the Director-General to defer, or not to defer, the operation of the suspension of a licence under this section cannot be reviewed by the Administrative Decisions Tribunal in an application for review made under this Act.

(7) If a licence is suspended by operation of this section, the holder of the licence must, as soon as practicable after the suspension takes effect:

(a) return the licence to the Director-General by lodging it at an office of the Office of Fair Trading, Department of Commerce, or

(b) if unable to lodge the licence, lodge at an office of the Office of Fair Trading, Department of Commerce a statement signed by the person providing accurate and complete details of why the licence cannot be lodged.

Maximum penalty: 40 penalty units in the case of a corporation and 20 penalty units in any other case.

(8) This section does not operate to prevent the taking of disciplinary action under Part 4 against a person on the grounds that the person has failed to comply with an order of a court or the Tribunal to pay an amount of money in respect of a building claim.