Lift maintenance companies potentially engaging in anti-competitive behaviour and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

I am the owner of a lift maintenance company so I listen to many lift owners wanting to explore what we can do for them regarding lift maintenance. Most older lifts and some newer ones we can maintain. However, there is a troubling trend emerging among lift installation companies to lock their customers in for maintenance and repairs for the life of the lift!

When a lift owner finds out that they are stuck with their current lift maintenance provider they are frustrated. Lift owners think that they are powerless to act as they don’t want to annoy their provider. However, this is not the case! The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has a distinguished history of holding unethical companies to account.

For the ACCC to act on anti-competitive/unethical behaviour they need a number of documented cases upon which to consider and then act upon. If you are concerned about a lift company engaging in anti-competitive behaviour, the following is a simple guide to raising the issue with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). Once the ACCC has received a number of complaints on an issue, that they deem anti-competitive, they will consider the issue and act accordingly.

In relation to the Lift industry, It appears that the withholding of electrical drawings, technical manuals and access to intellectual property (IP) from lift owners may well be anti -competitive behaviour as it results in lift owners being limited to only the lift installation company, maintaining and repairing the lift, possibly for the life time of the lift.

To raise an anti-competitive issue with the ACCC simply follow the links below:

• Submit a report or complaint on the ACCC's website
• Click to go directly to the ACCC's Report Form.

All the best with resolving any anti-competitive behaviour!

Published: May 18, 2026