Homeowners Face Financial Ruin

The Tasmanian Greens today in Parliament raised the serious matter of the financial ruin facing Janine Bransden and Chris Carlson as a direct result of bad government legislation and bad advice provided to them by Consumer Affairs. Bass Greens Kim Booth MP and spokesperson on building matters said today that Janine Bransden and Chris Carlson were the human face of the result of bad government legislation and bad legal advice provided for them by Consumer affairs. Mr Booth outlined the key points in the 9-year history of this matter: * The family have been battling for rectification of faults in their home built in 1999. * At that time the insurers had agreed there were serious problems with the house requiring rectification, however when HIH collapsed they were left without cover. *The Tasmanian government, unlike other jurisdictions, failed to put in place legislation to pick up consumers who had fallen through the cracks and the family were forced into the standard practice of Arbitration. *The first arbitrator found 42 defects, or 85% of the claimed faults in the family’s favour, however acting on Consumer Affairs advice they agreed to have a second arbitration which surprisingly went largely in the builders favour. *
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