From 3 July 2023, the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 (DBP Act) and Residential Apartment Buildings (Compliance and Enforcement Powers) Act 2020 (RAB Act) apply to buildings containing a class 3 or 9c part. That covers hotels, boarding houses, hostels and aged care, among others, and includes mixed use buildings if they contain a class 3 or 9c part.
Owners, operators, managers and financiers of hotels and aged care facilities will need to ensure that their supply chains comply with the DBP Act and RAB Act.
The Design and Building Practitioners Act
Key features of the DBP Act include:
- Registration: designers, builders and engineers must be registered before working on a building with a Class 3 or 9c part
- Declaration and lodgement: builders and consultants must comply with the requirement to declare regulated designs, and lodge them on the NSW planning portal. Importantly, 100% design must be completed, declared, and lodged prior to construction commencement. There are special arrangements for developments with staged construction certificates. Failure to comply with the regime will result in an occupation certificate being withheld
- Duty of care: all people in the contracting chain will owe a statutory duty of care to the owner
- Enforcement: the Department of Customer Service has broad powers to investigate and enforce the Act, including issuing stop work orders.
The Residential Apartment Buildings (Compliance and Enforcement Powers) Act
Key features of the RAB Act include:
- Notice of completion: Developers must notify the Department of Customer Service 6 – 12 months prior to applying for an occupation certificate. Failure to comply will result in an occupation certificate being withheld
- Levies: payable by Developers
- Enforcement: investigatory and enforcement powers granted to the Department of Customer Service, for example the Department may:
- prohibit the issue of an occupation certificate in certain circumstances (e.g. if there are 'serious defects' in a building)
- issue a stop work order or building work rectification order
- issue penalty notices for infringements of the Act.
Renovation works
There is a grace period which provides that the DBP Act will not apply to alterations, additions, repairs, renovations of existing buildings until 1 July 2024 (unless those buildings contain a class 2 part).
Projects already commenced
The DBP Act contains transitional provisions that will apply to already-commenced projects.
The RAB Act applies from 3 July 2023 and operates retrospectively, meaning that, for example, building work rectification orders can be issued in relation to existing buildings.
What you need to do now
If you are working on a development containing a class 3 or 9c part, you need to modify your supply chain and procurement methodology to ensure compliance with the DBP Act and RAB Act.
If you are operating an existing building containing a class 3 or 9c part, you need to understand how to respond to investigations or enforcement actions.
Please contact us if you need more information or assistance with your contracting arrangements.