BSA ignores John Biles bankruptcies

CHRIS Dalby spent hours researching before he signed up with Steelsmart Homes - yet he found out too late that director John Biles had two previous bankruptcies.

“I wouldn't have touched them with a 10 foot pole if I'd known,” Mr Dalby said.

Mr Dalby searched the Building Services Authority (BSA) and Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) websites before he signed his contract, but said his time was wasted because the information was not there.

“The BSA has been negligent because they either didn't check, or disregarded it,” he said.

Mr Biles went broke in 1987 and again in 1997, two years before BSA introduced regulations against people with previous multiple bankruptcies from holding licences.

“The BSA has the toughest anti-phoenix laws in the country, which means that anyone who has become bankrupt since 1 October 1999 faces lengthy and, if it happens a second time, lifetime bans,” BSA general manager Ian Jennings said.

“Since 1 October 1999, BSA's public register records any individual who becomes bankrupt and is banned from holding a licence. This is shown on BSA's public register for 10 years.”

The BSA failed to act on Mr Biles' two previous bankruptcies as they were before 1999, and Mr Biles was listed as a director on the Coral Coast Homes licence in 2005.

His individual licence was also reissued in 2008, and no warning was posted on either licence to alert potential customers.

“As part of the application process, applicants are required to legally declare whether or not they have ever been declared bankrupt, or been a director of failed company,” Mr Jennings said.

He said the BSA checks databases to monitor bankruptcies and liquidations.

Bundaberg Master Homes director Grant Reedy also had a previous bankruptcy before his company went into liquidation in May, owing more than $1.5 million.

Despite many customers publicly voicing their dissatisfaction with the system, Public Works Minister Robert Schwarten maintained that BSA's legislation was effective.

“There will always be a level of dissatisfaction, but regrettably there will always be people who do not get the outcome that they believe they should get,” Mr Schwarten said.