These Special Conditions have been prepared for use by the builder and the owner, as an alternative form of contract, where:
- the bank or financier imposes on the parties a Housing Industry Association HIA New Homes or Residential Building equivalent contract as a condition of approving finance, but
- where the parties had already agreed to include the role and functions of the Architect administering a contract under the relevant state or territory Australian Building Industry Contracts ABIC SW 2018 H contract.
These Special Conditions introduce a number of the definitions and mechanisms familiar from the ABIC SW 2018 H state and territory contracts into the HIA New Homes or Residential Building equivalent state and territory contracts. Refer to your state or territory page for the Special Conditions schedule. (Note. South Australia is an exception for preparation of these Special Conditions – see further information below).
Note 1: Every bank or financier has a right to impose whatever reasonable or commercial conditions it considers appropriate on an offer or approval to provide financing. We make no representations and cannot guarantee that either these Special Conditions or the HIA New Homes equivalent state or territory contract will be acceptable to all or to any particular bank or financier.
Note 2: The Institute is not affiliated with and does not endorse any HIA contract or product.
South Australia – Special Conditions not recommended
The Institute has not published and does not recommend a Special Condition schedule for the HIA SA Building Contract for New Homes.
Each HIA state and territory contract is different. The HIA SA Building Contract for New Homes contract is written in a colloquial, easy to understand style, but the contractual approach taken in this HIA contract is unique. The provisions go into a level of detail that may be useful to a lay owner entering into the contract directly with the builder and without an architect responsible for the design nor administering the contract. However, these provisions become irrelevant and potentially inconsistent when there is an architect designing and documenting the build, with inputs from subconsultants.
Preparing an equivalent Special Conditions schedule for this particular contract would have required deleting, modifying and replacing too much of the original HIA contract. In this case, the modified contract would no longer, in good faith, be an ‘HIA’ contract and therefore an equivalent schedule that modifies the contract so heavily has not been prepared.
Disclaimer
This content is provided by the Australian Institute of Architects for reference purposes and as general guidance. It does not take into account specific circumstances and should not be relied on in that way. It is not legal, financial, insurance, or other advice and you should seek independent verification or advice before relying on this content in circumstances where loss or damage may result. The Institute endeavours to publish content that is accurate at the time it is published, but does not accept responsibility for content that may or has become inaccurate over time. Using this website and content is subject to the Acumen User Licence.