Impact of the Collapse of HIH Insurance

At the time of its collapse on 15 March 2001, HIH was a major underwriter of Home Warranty Insurance in all jurisdictions of Australia. Home warranty insurance provides cover to owners who have defective building work (as a result of bad workmanship by the builder) and whose builder has been placed into liquidation, administration, died or is simply not returning to rectify defects. In general, coverage under such policies was for a period of 6 1/2 years from the date of completion.

The failure of HIH left many persons engaged (as owners or as contractors) in building and renovating residential property without effective home construction defects protection, or with their status uncertain.

The Victorian Government promptly established a rescue package to assist victims of the HIH collapse who were covered by an HIH Home Warranty Insurance policy. The Government appointed the Housing Guarantee Fund of Victoria (HGF) to administer this rescue package. As at February 1, 2006 HGF was merged with VMIA and the Builders Warranty Program was established.

This website has been produced to assist persons who are (or believe they may be) affected by the collapse of HIH in relation to Home Warranty Insurance. In most cases persons affected should be able to readily match their circumstances with one of the scenarios outlined in these pages. Others will find that they are not affected by the collapse of HIH, or are not covered by the rescue package. For those whose circumstances appear to fall outside the guidelines noted on this site, information may be sought from Consumer Affairs Victoria and the Building Commission for further assistance.