Frequently asked questions about support payment schemes for customers of liquidated builders

Porter Davis Homes Customer Support Payment Scheme

The Porter Davis Group of companies went into liquidation on Friday 31 March 2023. In response, the Victorian Government introduced a support payment scheme for customers of Porter Davis Homes who:

• signed a Housing Industry Association (HIA) Domestic Building Contract
• paid a 5% deposit
• but did not receive domestic building insurance because Porter Davis Homes breached their obligations.

Liquidated Builders Customer Support Payment Scheme

On 6 March 2024, the Victorian Government announced an extension of the Liquidated Builders Customer Support Payment Scheme to include customers of other builders (including Porter Davis Homes customers) who went into liquidation between 1 July 2022 and 28 February 2024.

Both schemes are managed by the Department of Government Services (DGS).

Porter Davis Homes Customer Support Payment Scheme

Applications opened on 29 May 2023 and closed at 4 pm Tuesday 29 August 2023 AEDT. Porter Davis Homes customers may be eligible to apply to the Liquidated Builders Customer Support Payment Scheme.

Liquidated Builders Customer Support Payment Scheme

Applications re-opened on 15 April 2024 and will close at 4 pm 20 June 2024 AEDT.

Porter Davis Homes Customer Support Payment Scheme

Applications closed at 4 pm on Tuesday 29 August 2023.

Liquidated Builders Customer Support Payment Scheme

Liquidated Builder customers can apply for the scheme by providing evidence to support their application. Applications must be submitted by 4 pm, 20 June 2024 AEDT.

Liquidated Builders Customer Support Payment Scheme

If your application for the Liquidated Builders Customer Support Payment Scheme is approved, you may receive a support payment equal to the amount paid, up to a maximum of 5% of the New Home Contract Price, with a cap of $50,000.

If you are eligible for the payment, you must consent to transferring your rights under the contract to the State of Victoria. This means transferring your rights under the building contract with your nominated liquidated builder to the State of Victoria before receiving the support payment. This means that you cannot claim for the recovery of the amount(s) you paid under your Domestic Building Contract or Agreement through the liquidation process to the extent that you have received a support payment through this scheme to cover your loss. Customers are encouraged to seek further legal advice prior to applying for this scheme.

Porter Davis Homes Customer Support Payment Scheme

The payment was available to Porter Davis Homes customers affected by the company’s insolvency. It is available to customers who don’t have domestic building insurance because Porter Davis Homes breached their obligations. Customers must also have:

• signed a HIA Domestic Building Contract for the build of their home
• paid a 5% deposit under that contract to Porter Davis Homes
• not had a building permit issued in relation to their project.

Liquidated Builders Customer Support Payment Scheme

This scheme is an extension of the previous Porter Davis Homes Customer Support Payment Scheme. The support payment is available to Porter Davis Homes customers as well as customers of other eligible liquidated builders that went into liquidation between 1 July 2022 and 28 February 2024. To be eligible, you must also have:

• signed a Domestic Building Contract or Agreement for the new build of your home
• paid a deposit under that contract to the eligible liquidated builder
• have not had a building permit issued in relation to their project.

Please read the Liquidated Builders Customer Support Payment Scheme Funding Guidelines for complete details of eligibility.

List of eligible liquidated builders

The government will continue to assess liquidated builders and add them to the list of ‘Eligible Liquidated Builders’ on an ongoing basis.

The government relies on access to data from the builders’ liquidators to verify their eligibility. The government is working on accessing this information as quickly as possible.

Yes, you may apply and provide the details of your liquidated builder in the application form. The government will assess whether the builder is eligible or not. Should the builder be eligible, they will be added to the list of ‘Eligible Liquidated Builders’ and we will provide you with an application outcome within 90 days. You will also be advised if your builder is not eligible under the scheme.

Customers of Porter Davis Homes may be  eligible for support through the Liquidated Builders Customer Support Payment Scheme.

Under this scheme, a contract or agreement is  considered eligible if it is a signed written agreement between an Eligible Liquidated Builder and Customer for carrying out or managing domestic building work for a new residential home, as defined in the Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995 (Vic). The contract may include plans and specifications.

The eligible contracts or agreements may have different names such as:

• domestic building contract
• major domestic building contract
• new homes contract
• tender agreement
• tender-stage contract
• preliminary tender agreement
• minor works agreement
• major works agreement
• building works contract
• cost plus contract
• design and construct contract
• construct only
• contract trade contract
• new home contract.

The following customers are not eligible for a support payment:

• developers (defined as any person or company for whom three or more homes were proposed to be built under a single Domestic Building Contract or Agreement)
• customers who have signed a Domestic Building Contract or Agreement for a property site located outside of the State of Victoria
• customers who have been insured by VMIA or another insurer and are therefore eligible to make an insurance claim
• customers who have signed a contract or agreement for building works of anything other than a new residential home
• customers who paid an amount up to $2000 for an activity such as soil testing only
• customers who have not signed any contract or agreement
• customers of liquidated builders that have been assessed by the Victorian Government as ineligible for this scheme
• customers who have transferred (novated) their Domestic Building Contract or Agreement and amount paid under their New Home Contract Price to another builder and they have incurred no financial loss (for example, they have received a credit towards their New Home Contract Price with the new builder despite the transfer and they are not at a monetary disadvantage after the novation process).

For more information and support, email customer.support@dgs.vic.gov.au

Applicants will be notified about the outcome of their application within 90 days of submission, should the Victorian Government have assessed the liquidated builder as being eligible at the time of submission. Individual outcome notification is subject to all attachments and information being sufficiently provided.

The following support payment page provides further information on the application process Liquidated Builders Customer Support Payment Scheme

The status of your application will appear in the Grants Portal:

• Draft – you have started an application.
• Submitted – your application is submitted.
• Under assessment – your application has been received and is being assessed by the DGS assessment team. You may receive emails requesting further action such as accepting grant terms and conditions.
• Successful – your application was successful.
• Unsuccessful – your application was unsuccessful.

Once you submit your application, you will receive updates on its progress. Please note that we are unable to contact you while your application is in the 'draft' stage as you have not yet provided the department with permission to use your contact details.

We appreciate this is a difficult time. While we cannot prioritise specific applications, we are committed to assessing all applications promptly and making payments as swiftly as we can.

To facilitate a quick assessment and payment, we recommend thoroughly reading the Funding Guidelines and accurately completing the application form while ensuring all necessary supporting documents are provided.

Liquidated Builders Customer Support Payment Scheme Funding Guidelines

If there are multiple owners who have signed your Domestic Building Contract or Agreement, one individual must apply on behalf of all owners. That applicant should have the necessary authority or permission from all owners to act on their behalf and receive the payment.

If an applicant mistakenly applies as an individual owner for a customer support payment, they will be contacted and asked to update and resubmit their application to include the other owners.

For more information, please refer to the Funding Guidelines for Porter Davis Homes Customer Support Payment Scheme or Liquidated Builders Customer Support Payment Scheme.

When there are multiple property owners, a single individual must apply on behalf of all joint property owners. According to the Funding Guidelines, the applicant must confirm that:

• they have received authorisation and written consent from all joint property owners to apply on their behalf, share their personal information, and, if the application is approved, receive the payment into a bank account where the applicant is either the account holder or an authorised account holder
• all joint property owners agree to transfer their rights as unsecured creditors of the eligible liquidated builder to the State of Victoria if the application is deemed eligible and they choose to accept the payment
• they will distribute the payment to each individual they represent according to the respective amount allocated.

The applicant must retain the written consent document for auditing purposes and provide it upon request. DGS will also email the other joint property owners to confirm that you have applied to the relevant scheme on their behalf. A template to obtain written consent is available for your reference here.

The information is described in below:

Email 

1. Create a new email message.
2. Copy and paste from the written permission template.
3. Where you see the square brackets [ ], insert your specific details according to the prompt.
4. Type your name at the bottom of the email with the date you provided your written permission.

Handwritten letter

1. Copy from the written permission template on a piece of paper.
2. Where you see the square brackets [ ], insert your specific details according to the prompt.
3. Sign or print your name at the bottom of the letter with the date you provided your written permission.

The applicant must include information from one of the following proof of identity documents on their application form:

• Australian passport or New Zealand passport
• Medicare card
• Australian driver licence or learner permit
• Australian visa (International passport).

If proof of identity cannot be verified, the applicant will receive a follow-up email with instructions on how to provide their proof of identity details.

Porter Davis Homes Customer Support Payment Scheme

You must provide the following documents in support of your Porter Davis Homes Customer Support Payment Scheme application:

• a signed HIA Domestic Building Contract with Porter Davis Homes Group Pty Ltd company or associated entities (please refer to the Funding Guidelines for a full list)
• a final statement from a Porter Davis Homes Group or an associated entity showing payment (which may have been in instalments) of your deposit under your building contract.

If you do not have a final statement, receipts showing evidence of payment of your full deposit may be accepted.

Liquidated Builders Customer Support Payment Scheme

You must provide the following documents to support your Liquidated Builders Customer Support Payment Scheme application:

• a signed Domestic Building Contract or Agreement with your nominated Eligible Liquidated Builder (see the list of eligible liquidated builders assessed by the Victorian Government) 
  If you are unsure if the documents from your nominated Eligible Liquidated Builder are a signed Domestic Building Contract or Agreement, provide all agreements you signed with your Eligible Liquidated Builder
• a final statement or progress statement from your nominated Eligible Liquidated Builder (showing amount(s) paid which may have been in instalments) under your Domestic Building Contract or Agreement, clearly showing that the full amount required to be paid has been paid. 
  If you do not have a final statement, official receipts from your Eligible Liquidated builder showing evidence of payment of your deposit may be accepted. Invoices and bank transaction statements will not be accepted.

Compressing large PDFs

You can make an existing PDF file smaller by visiting the Adobe website.

Instructions

Follow these easy steps to compress a large PDF file online:

1. Click the Select a file button or drag and drop files into the drop zone.
2. Select the PDF file you want to make smaller.
3. After uploading, Adobe Acrobat will automatically reduce the PDF size.
4. Download your compressed PDF file or sign in to share it.

How do I compress a PDF without losing quality?

The Adobe Acrobat online PDF compressor balances an optimised file size against the expected quality of images, fonts and other file content. Just drag and drop a PDF into the PDF compression tool at the link above and let Adobe Acrobat reduce the size of your PDF files without compromising quality.

What size PDFs can I compress?

The Adobe Acrobat online PDF compressor tool can compress a PDF of up to 2GB.

How do I check my PDF file size?

To check the file size of a PDF, open Windows Explorer or Mac Finder.

From the downloads folder, select the file and right click to view properties.

Still having problems?

For more information and support, email customer.support@dgs.vic.gov.au

Porter Davis Homes Customer Support Payment Scheme

Customers who have paid deposits exceeding 5% or made payments beyond the deposit stage of a build, are not eligible to receive further payment amounts above 5% from the Victorian Government. This aligns with the legal maximum deposit payment of the Domestic Building Contracts Act 1995 (Vic).

Liquidated Builders Customer Support Payment Scheme

Customers who have paid an amount exceeding 5%, made payments beyond the deposit stage of their construction, or made payments exceeding the $50,000 cap, are not eligible to receive further payments from the Victorian Government.

The payment must be transferred to a bank account held by the applicant, or to a bank account in the name of the company or trust/trustee that is the signatory to the Domestic Building Contract or Agreement.

Grants are generally treated by the Australian Tax Office (ATO) as assessable income. For advice on your specific situation, please contact the ATO or speak with your tax accountant.