Building surveyors and inspectors will soon no longer need exemption-free professional indemnity insurance under a ministerial order aimed at addressing a problem that threatened to bring the construction industry to a halt.
Under Victorian law, building surveyors and inspectors have required professional indemnity insurance without any exemptions to gain or renew their registration.
But insurers gradually ceased offering such cover, particularly in the wake of incidents involving combustible external cladding on buildings.
The last company to do so stopped this July, and there were concerns the construction industry would slow and eventually stop as the pool of registered surveyors gradually shrunk.
But state Planning Minister Richard Wynne has made an order that will mean building surveyors and inspectors can acquire insurance with exemptions to non-compliant cladding.
The order comes into effect on August 15.
Bendigo surveyor Adrian Sharman, owner of Vic Central Building Surveying, was among those who expressed concern about what would happen.
Mr Sharman told the Bendigo Advertiser last month that the difficulty in securing the necessary cover meant those surveyors who did manage to renew their policies before the last company pulled out had to pay much higher premiums than they previously had.
The state government has also this month announced it will establish Cladding Safety Victoria, which will support and fund apartment building owners to remove unsafe cladding.
The agency was a recommendation of the Victorian Cladding Taskforce.
The government will also review the state's Building Act.
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