Victoria

How is Victoria implementing and monitoring the Livable Housing Australia Standards?

National Construction Code (NCC) Livable Housing Design Standards for residential dwellings become mandatory in Victoria from 1 May 2024.

The NCC allows for an exemption to step free access to a class 1 dwelling in circumstances where there are significant site constraints such as insufficient space or the gradient of the site is too steep.  A class 1 dwelling is domestic or residential buildings – single, standalone single houses and horizontally attached houses, such as terrace houses, row houses or townhouses).

In Victoria, where an exemption to step free access is granted for a design, the relevant building surveyor must provide details, including the rationale for the exemption on the building permit.  This information is recorded by Victoria’s building regulator, the Victorian Building Authority.

The Building Better Homes campaign is seeking information about how exemptions will be monitored and reported in Victoria.