New South Wales Consolidated Acts

HOME BUILDING ACT 1989 - SECT 8

8 Maximum deposits

(1) A person must not:

(a) demand or receive a payment on account before work is commenced under a contract to do residential building work, or

(b) enter into a contract under which the person is entitled to demand or receive a payment on account before residential building work is commenced,

if the amount of the payment is prohibited by this section.

Maximum penalty: 1,000 penalty units in the case of a corporation and 200 penalty units in any other case.

(2) The amount of the payment is prohibited if:

(a) the contract price is more than $20,000 and the payment is more than 5% of the contract price (or, where another percentage is prescribed by the regulations in respect of a particular kind of work, the percentage so prescribed), or

(b) the contract price is $20,000 or less and the payment is more than 10% of the contract price (or, where another percentage is prescribed by the regulations in respect of a particular kind of work, the percentage so prescribed).

(3) The regulations may make provision concerning how a contract price is to be determined for the purposes of this section.