ORS, liquidator probe Sublime Constructions collapse aftermath

The Office of Regulatory Services has pledged to investigate QBE Insurance's refusal to compensate victims of the $4 million Sublime Constructions collapse if it is asked to do so.

Brett Phillips, the executive director of the Office of Regulatory Services, said if his office received complaints from owners affected by QBE's refusal to pay out on home warranty insurance they would be investigated.

QBE's refusal to honour policies taken out on up to 13 homes being built by Sublime Constructions when it collapsed in February was a hole in the ACT government's mandated protection for customers, the Master Builders Association's Jerry Howard has said.

Mr Phillips, whose staff have already investigated allegations Sublime Constructions falsified the contract amounts on HWI certificates provided to customers, said the question of jurisdiction over the dispute between QBE and the Sublime clients was complex.

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While building complaints in the ACT were usually handled by the Environment and Planning Directorate through the Constructions Occupations Licensing Registrar, the ORS was responsible for complaints lodged under the Australian Consumer Law, he said.

However, financial products were exempt from the consumer law provisions.

"The laws in relation to financial products and misleading and deceptive conduct are replicated in the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act," he said.

"My initial view, without having explored all of the issues, is that ASIC would be the regulator on insurance disputes."

The ORS had received only one consumer complaint so far, which had centred on allegations certificates had been falsified, he said.

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ORS, liquidator probe Sublime Constructions collapse aftermath