Home warranty insurance by state: thresholds, cover and maximum payouts across Australia
Seven of Australia's eight states and territories run an active last-resort scheme for homeowners whose builder fails partway through a job. However, the protection available depends heavily on where the work is carried out. Among the five that publish a directly comparable maximum payout, the most a scheme will pay ranges from $200,000 in Queensland and Western Australia to $400,000 in Victoria. The contract value that triggers cover varies just as much, from Queensland's $3,300 general threshold to the Northern Territory's $25,000 for additions that increase floor area; different kinds of threshold, not a directly comparable pair.
Those maximums are not like-for-like. Schemes differ in the work they cover, what has to go wrong before a claim can be made, how long cover lasts and what sub-limits sit inside the headline figure. A maximum payout is also a different kind of number from a minimum required insurance sum or a percentage-of-contract limit, so the ACT and Northern Territory amounts do not belong in the same comparison. Tasmania is the only jurisdiction with no confirmed operating scheme at all.
Active arrangements
7 of 8
States and territories with an active last-resort residential building protection arrangement.
Tas unconfirmedPublished cover range
$200k–$400k
Range across the five directly comparable published maximum payouts, in nominal dollars.
$200k spreadLowest trigger threshold
$3,300
Queensland covers most residential work above this contract value, the lowest of any jurisdiction, though it isn't measured against the same category of work as the Northern Territory's threshold.
7.6x, not like-for-likeComparable maximums
5 of 8
The ACT prescribes a minimum insurance amount, Northern Territory sources are not directly comparable, and Tasmania has no confirmed scheme.
ACT, NT, Tas outBuilder insolvencies in Australia
How insolvency becomes a last-resort claim, what an owner can recover on a part-built home, and how the failure rate has moved across the construction sector.
Read full article →What does it cost to build a house in Australia?
Current build costs by state and dwelling type, and how contract value interacts with the thresholds that trigger home warranty cover.
Read full article →SECTION 01 · OVERVIEW
Home warranty insurance schemes across Australia
Seven of the eight state and territory schemes are active, and each uses a different name. Thresholds start at $3,300 and run up to $25,000.
Home warranty insurance is a last resort. It responds when a builder cannot finish the job or cannot meet a valid claim for defective work, usually because they have died, disappeared, become insolvent or lost their registration.
The different names reflect real structural differences. A fidelity fund is a pooled guarantee run by an approved body, while an insurance policy is a contract with an insurer. Both are grouped here because they do the same job for a home owner, not because they are the same legal instrument.
Home warranty insurance schemes and provider models in each Australian state and territory
| Jurisdiction | Scheme name | Provider model |
|---|---|---|
| Queensland | Queensland Home Warranty Scheme | Government-administered statutory scheme |
| Victoria | Home Warranty Insurance from 1 July 2026; Domestic Building Insurance for earlier contracts | Government scheme managed by the Building and Plumbing Commission |
| New South Wales | Home Building Compensation insurance | icare Home Building Compensation Fund, currently the only insurer providing cover |
| South Australia | Building Indemnity Insurance | Approved private insurers with government reinsurance |
| Western Australia | Home Indemnity Insurance | Approved private insurers |
| Australian Capital Territory | Residential building work insurance or fidelity cover | Authorised private insurer or approved fidelity fund |
| Northern Territory | Fidelity fund certificate | Approved fidelity fund |
| Tasmania | No active home warranty insurance scheme identified | Legislated last-resort scheme not shown as operational in current official consumer guidance |
Source: state and territory scheme guidance and legislation, listed in the references. Current settings at 29 July 2026.
Who carries the risk changes from one jurisdiction to the next:
- Queensland and Victoria run government schemes.
- New South Wales has a single government insurer.
- South Australia and Western Australia use approved private insurers.
- The Northern Territory uses a fidelity fund rather than an insurance policy.
- The ACT allows either an insurer or a fund.
- Tasmania has the legislation but no confirmed operating scheme.
Why the schemes are grouped together
Grouping these arrangements under one term is a working assumption, not an official classification. There is no national home warranty insurance scheme and no single regulator, so each jurisdiction defines its own covered work, triggers and limits. Comparisons in this article are between published rules, not between measured scheme performance.
SECTION 02 · COMPARISON
Home warranty insurance cover by state and territory
Five jurisdictions publish a maximum payout on a directly comparable basis. Cover ranges from $200,000 to $400,000, a ratio of 2.0 between the highest and lowest, with a median amount of $250,000.
The ACT sets a minimum insurance amount rather than a maximum payout, while Northern Territory sources give a fidelity-certificate minimum alongside a percentage-of-contract limit, and Tasmania has no confirmed operating scheme, so none of the three jurisdictions is included in the maximum payout comparison.
Maximum payout published by home warranty insurance schemes in five Australian states
Nominal Australian dollars, value axis from zero. Excludes the Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory, whose published amounts are not maximum payouts, and Tasmania, which has no confirmed active scheme.
Source: scheme guidance for Queensland, Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia. Published maximums reflect current policy settings. Earlier South Australian policies may have a lower limit.
A state at the top of this range can still pay out less than one at the bottom, once sub-limits, excesses and the definition of eligible work are counted.
Contract thresholds, cover amounts, claim triggers and defect periods for home warranty insurance in each Australian state and territory
Victoria · Highest maximum payout
Home Warranty Insurance
- Threshold: contracts over $20,000, from 1 July 2026
- Cover: $400,000 maximum
- Trigger: builder unable or unwilling to complete or rectify the work
- Earlier contracts: former Domestic Building Insurance arrangements continue to apply
Source: Building and Plumbing Commission Victoria
The ACT amount is a prescribed minimum, not a maximum payout. The Northern Territory threshold applies to additions that increase floor area, on certificates issued after 30 March 2026. Source: state and territory scheme guidance and legislation.
The $25,000 Northern Territory threshold for qualifying additions and extensions is 7.6 times Queensland's $3,300 threshold. However, the two figures apply to different definitions of work and are not equivalent thresholds within a common national scheme.
Some published figures carry qualifications that are not captured by the headline amounts.
Western Australia
$40,000 deposit sub-limit
Loss of deposit is covered to $40,000, and an insurer may charge a $500 excess. The fact sheet lists the deposit cover separately from the $200,000 completion limit without stating whether it sits inside that limit.
Australian Capital Territory
$200,000 prescribed
The current regulation prescribes a $12,000 contract threshold, a $200,000 insurance amount, a five-year insurance period, a 180-day claim period and a maximum $500 excess. A prescribed insurance amount is the sum a policy must provide, not the ceiling on what a scheme will pay, so it is not equivalent to the charted maximums and the Territory stays outside that chart. The amount rose from $85,000 on 1 January 2025, an increase of 135.3% calculated from the two published amounts.
Northern Territory
Published cover measures are not directly comparable
The government consumer page states no dollar maximum. Fidelity Fund NT states cover of up to $200,000, subject to a 20% contract-price limit. The regulations prescribe $200,000 as the minimum fidelity-certificate amount and require non-completion cover of at least 20% of the contract price. A minimum certificate amount and a percentage-of-contract limit are not the same measure as a maximum payout, so the Territory stays outside the five-jurisdiction chart. Claims must be lodged within 90 days.
Recent changes to home warranty insurance schemes, 2023 to 2026
Several jurisdictions have altered thresholds, prescribed amounts, administration or scheme rules in the past three years. As a result, figures in older guidance may no longer reflect current settings.
2023
Tasmania legislates to enable a scheme
Enabling legislation allowed a residential building warranty insurance scheme to be reintroduced. However, enabling legislation does not confirm that a scheme is operating.
1 January 2025
ACT raises the minimum insurance amount
The minimum amount of residential building work insurance rose from $85,000 to $200,000, and the claim lodgement period increased from 90 days to 180 days.
1 July 2025
Building and Plumbing Commission begins operating
The Building and Plumbing Commission began operating and took over the domestic building insurance functions previously administered by the Victorian Managed Insurance Authority. Domestic Building Insurance remained the applicable scheme for eligible contracts and policies issued before Home Warranty began on 1 July 2026.
10 November 2025
South Australia raises its threshold
The building indemnity insurance threshold rose from $12,000 to $20,000, lining it up with New South Wales and Western Australia.
30 March 2026
Northern Territory reforms take effect
For fidelity fund certificates issued after this date, the threshold for additions and extensions that increase floor area rose from $12,000 to $25,000.
1 July 2026
Victoria's Home Warranty Insurance scheme begins
For eligible contracts entered into from this date, cover is required above $20,000 with a maximum of $400,000, and can apply where the builder is unable or unwilling to finish or fix the work. Contracts signed earlier stay under the former Domestic Building Insurance arrangements.
SECTION 03 · QUEENSLAND
How does Queensland’s Home Warranty Scheme work?
At $3,300, Queensland's threshold is the lowest in the country, well under the $20,000 used in New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia. The standard maximum is $200,000, with an optional increase to $300,000. Structural defects are generally covered for six years and six months, and claims must usually be lodged within three months of the defect being identified.
The scheme is government-run rather than sold by private insurers, and it responds to both non-completion and defective work, with conditions that vary by claim type.
That six-year-and-six-month cover period is the longest published structural period among the schemes reviewed, although Queensland allows an extension in some circumstances. Shorter limits apply to non-structural and other claims.
The $300,000 amount is optional rather than the standard level of cover, so a Queensland policy is not automatically equal to a scheme that publishes $300,000 as its standard maximum.
SECTION 04 · VICTORIA
What does Victoria’s home warranty insurance cover?
Victoria's maximum cover is $400,000, the highest in the country. It applies to eligible contracts signed from 1 July 2026, when the Home Warranty Insurance scheme started, on domestic building work worth more than $20,000.
Cover can apply where the builder is unable or unwilling to finish the work or fix defective work. That is a broader trigger than the death, disappearance or insolvency test most other jurisdictions use.
Contracts signed before 1 July 2026 stay under the former Domestic Building Insurance arrangements, on the terms attached to those contracts. The applicable rules depend on the contract date, not on when the claim is made.
Victoria’s transition from Domestic Building Insurance to Home Warranty Insurance
Two separate changes took effect a year apart. On 1 July 2025, the Building and Plumbing Commission began operating and assumed the domestic building insurance functions previously administered by the Victorian Managed Insurance Authority. On 1 July 2026, Home Warranty replaced Domestic Building Insurance for new eligible domestic building work. Existing Domestic Building Insurance policies continue under their original terms and do not transfer to the new Home Warranty scheme.
SECTION 05 · NEW SOUTH WALES
How does home warranty insurance work in New South Wales?
New South Wales sets its maximum payout at $340,000, above the $200,000 standard maximums in Queensland and Western Australia and below Victoria's $400,000. Cover is required on residential work over $20,000 including GST.
The current term is Home Building Compensation insurance, and icare's Home Building Compensation Fund is the only insurer that provides this cover.
The trigger goes beyond death, disappearance and insolvency. It also responds where a builder's or tradesperson's licence is suspended for failing to comply with a money order.
Claims for major defects can be made for six years and other losses for two years. New apartment buildings are covered only when they are three storeys or lower, so the scheme does not cover buyers in taller new apartment developments.
SECTION 06 · TASMANIA
Does Tasmania have home warranty insurance?
Tasmania is the only Australian jurisdiction without a confirmed operating home warranty insurance scheme. A mandatory last-resort scheme covering contracts over $20,000 was legislated in 2023 and was expected to start in mid-2025.
There is no current operational scheme page, approved provider or official confirmation that the scheme began operating. The expected mid-2025 start date published in 2024 does not confirm that it took effect.
2023
legislation only
Tasmania’s scheme was legislated but is not confirmed as operating
The gap is between a legislated framework and a scheme that is confirmed as operating. The official sources reviewed did not identify an active Tasmanian equivalent to the last-resort protection available in the other seven jurisdictions. Other statutory and consumer remedies may apply separately.
Limitations of the available evidence
The finding that Tasmania has no operating scheme is an absence of confirming evidence, not proof of absence. Regulator scheme pages, Tasmanian legislation and fact sheets, ministerial releases and current financial-assistance guidance were all checked. The direct download of the 2023 amendment fact sheet was not accessible during the review, so the classification relies on the government announcement page and the absence of a current operational scheme page or approved provider. A commencement notice published after the review date would change this position.
SECTION 07 · SCHEME DIFFERENCES
How home warranty insurance differs by state and territory
Contract thresholds vary by a factor of 7.6 across the eight jurisdictions, structural defect periods run from five years to six years and six months, and claim lodgement periods range from 90 days to 180 days. Three of the eight jurisdictions do not publish a maximum payout that is directly comparable with the other five.
Those differences sit behind the headline amounts: what work is covered, what has to happen before a claim can proceed, how tall a building can be, and how long the claim window stays open. They come from the published rules rather than from any government finding, and no jurisdiction is ranked on how well its scheme performs, because the administrative statistics are not published on a common basis.
What determines whether home warranty protection applies?
What a residential building contract protects depends on five things:
- the state or territory where the contract is signed
- the value of the work
- the height and type of the building
- the date the contract was signed
- what happens to the builder afterwards
A comparison based only on maximum payouts shows the headline amounts but does not capture differences in eligibility, claim triggers, sub-limits or access.
About the data
Published scheme settings were drawn from official guidance and legislation reviewed on 29 July 2026. All amounts are nominal Australian dollars. The payout comparison covers five jurisdictions. The ACT is excluded because it prescribes a minimum insurance amount rather than a maximum payout. The Northern Territory is excluded because its published cover measures are not directly comparable, while no confirmed operating scheme was identified for Tasmania in the official sources reviewed.
The $200,000 spread, 2.0 ratio and $250,000 median were calculated from the five comparable maximum payouts. The 7.6 threshold ratio compares Queensland's general contract threshold with the Northern Territory's threshold for floor-area-increasing additions, which are different categories of work, not a like-for-like comparison. The 135.3% ACT increase was calculated from the two published prescribed insurance amounts. Comparable national claims and payout statistics were not available.
General information only
This page is based on publicly available official sources, including state and territory regulators, government departments and statutory authorities. It does not constitute financial, building, insurance or legal advice. Scheme settings vary by jurisdiction and may change over time. The rules that apply depend on the policy, contract and relevant date. Where official sources do not publish a figure, the article identifies the gap rather than estimating one.
References
- Queensland Home Warranty Scheme – QBCC, January 2024.
- Maximum home warranty entitlements – QBCC, May 2025.
- Domestic building insurance and home warranty – Building and Plumbing Commission Victoria, July 2026.
- Time limits and amounts for Home Warranty – Building and Plumbing Commission Victoria, June 2026.
- New BPC putting consumers first from day one – Building and Plumbing Commission Victoria, 1 July 2025.
- For homeowners – State Insurance Regulatory Authority NSW, December 2024.
- For builders and tradies – State Insurance Regulatory Authority NSW, April 2026.
- Building Indemnity Insurance – South Australian Government Financing Authority, November 2025.
- Home indemnity insurance – WA Department of Local Government, Industry Regulation and Safety, October 2025.
- Building (General) Regulation 2008 (ACT), current as at 23 February 2026.
- Residential building work insurance – ACT City and Environment Directorate, current at July 2026.
- Fidelity fund certificate – NT Government, March 2026.
- For homeowners – Fidelity Fund NT, current at July 2026.
- Building (RBI and Fidelity Fund Schemes) Regulations 2012 (NT).
- Home Warranty Insurance for Tasmanians a step closer – Tasmanian Government, August 2024.
- Residential Building Work Contracts and Dispute Resolution Act 2016 (Tas).
- Residential Building (Home Warranty Insurance Amendments) Act 2023 (Tas), as made.
- Financial Assistance Package for consumers affected by construction company failures – Consumer, Building and Occupational Services (Tas), July 2026.
Chart Snapshots
