The ongoing feud between Vero and the Builders’ Collective of Australia over home warranty insurance has reached boiling point, with Vero bringing in the lawyers to deal with the issue.

Through its lawyers Minter Ellison, Vero has demanded Builders’ Collective National President Phil Dwyer remove comments on the association’s website that the insurer says are defamatory. The insurer can handle most of the barbs without flinching, but claims that the collective has forced Vero to change its practices is a bit too much.

Vero is also demanding the right to check the accuracy of any submission the association may be planning to make to the Victorian Competition and Efficiency Commission’s (VCEC) inquiry into builders’ warranty insurance.

Mr Dwyer told Sunrise Exchange News the insurer’s demands are unreasonable in a public inquiry and the association will ignore them.

“In principle, we believe that this is nothing short of intimidation of a witness to change the evidence that we would otherwise present to the inquiry. We are not presenting our evidence to Vero Insurance… we are presenting our evidence to an independent government inquiry and that inquiry will decide what they publish and what they don’t,” Mr Dwyer said.   

But a Vero spokesman told Sunrise Exchange News the subject of the insurer’s concern “is not the opinions of home warranty insurers… that Phil Dwyer and the Builders’ Collective have published on their site”, but comments that the group was “instrumental in forcing change upon Vero”.

“This is not true,” she said. “As a part of Vero’s continuous improvement culture we are always looking at ways to reduce premiums, provide a better service to our builders and reward them for their loyalty to Vero.”

The office of the Victorian Small Business Commissioner has put forward a submission to the VCEC inquiry that cites unfair market practices in the builders’ warranty market.

Meanwhile, the Tasmanian Office of Consumer Affairs is reviewing builders’ warranty cover in the state, and is contemplating supporting a plan to move to a statutory scheme.

Consumer Affairs Director Ray Ormerod told ABC Radio the cost of home warranty cover in Tasmania is too high. He hasn’t ruled out an industry fund, jointly paid for by the Government, to pay out homeowners and eventually replace the need for private insurers. He met with Mr Dwyer last week for several hours to discuss the issue.

“It’s all about housing affordability,” he said. “Whether insurers should continue to insure is one that needs to be explored further.”

Vero says the Tasmanian legislation is up for review, anyway. It has been triggered by the 10-year rule – an agreement to review legislation every decade to monitor its effectiveness.