1 Dec 2023
NSW Building Legislation Amendment Bill 2023
NSW Parliament have passed amendments to the Home Building Act. See the Below link: https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/bill/files/18512/Passed%20by%20both%20Houses.pdf
Overview of Bill
The objects of this Bill are as follows—
To enable building defects in homes to be investigated before a complaint is made, including new powers to enter sites, order rectification, stop work and take action against licence holders.
To introduce duties on persons in the building products supply chain to ensure building products are safe and suitable for their intended use.
To amend legislation relating to strata schemes to enable the percentage of a contract price required to be provided by a strata developer as security to be prescribed by the regulations and to make provision relating to decennial insurance.
To provide for immediate suspensions of registrations of building certifiers and practitioners in certain circumstances after a show cause notice has been issued.
To facilitate information sharing with government sector agencies under the Building and Development Certifiers Act 2018 and the Home Building Act 1989.
Those working on class 1 buildings (houses) projects are now subject to the powers of the Office of the Building Commissioner (soon to be called Building Commission NSW). The investigative and enforcement powers of the Department are expanded, specifically to class 1 buildings. The amendments sit in the Home Building Act but are like the RAB Act requirements currently applying to class 2 buildings.
Importantly, the amendment provides for immediate suspensions of registrations of building certifiers and practitioners in certain circumstances after a show cause notice has been issued.
Under the changes, the following people will have duties under the chain of responsibility for a building product:
Designers/manufacturers/suppliers/subcontractors/contractors/developers of all building classes – are now subject to broader obligations and penalties in relation to building product safety under the chain of responsibility provisions in the Building Products (Safety) Act 2017 (NSW).
Builders/developers/financiers of class 1 buildings (houses) – are now subject to the powers of the Office of the Building Commissioner (soon to be called the Building Commission).
A person who designs or deals with the product, and knows, or ought reasonably to know, the product will, or is likely to, be used in a building;
A person who prepares a building design that incorporates or recommends the use of the product in the building (e.g. designers, engineers and architects);
A person who uses the product in a building (e.g. a person who installs, or coordinates or supervises the installation of, the product in a building during construction);
A person specified in the regulations as a person in the chain of responsibility.