Who must comply with NSW Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020?

Designers + builders of Class 2-9 buildings in NSW must register + lodge declarations.

The Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 (NSW) requires design practitioners, building practitioners and professional engineers to be registered to work on regulated buildings, and makes them declare that designs and completed work comply with the Building Code of Australia. It first applied to class 2 buildings (multi-unit apartments and mixed-use buildings with a class 2 part) and, from 3 July 2023, to certain new class 3 and 9c buildings (class 3 shared residential buildings and class 9c residential care buildings such as aged care); alteration and renovation work on existing class 3 and 9c buildings comes under it from 1 July 2028. Registered design practitioners prepare regulated designs and design compliance declarations; the single building practitioner for a project must lodge them on the NSW Planning Portal before work starts, and lodge a building compliance declaration before an occupation certificate is applied for. Building Commission NSW enforces the scheme alongside the Residential Apartment Buildings (Compliance and Enforcement Powers) Act 2020.

Applies only if you design or build Class 2 (apartment) buildings. Whether it applies turns on a fact that no industry, structure or size settles on its own.

How the regulator frames it: Builders (individuals or bodies corporate) who agree to do or are principal contractor for building work on class 2, 3 or 9c buildings in NSW; design practitioners and principal design practitioners preparing regulated designs; professional engineers doing civil, electrical, fire safety, geotechnical, mechanical or structural engineering work on those buildings; and developers under the RAB Act. Certain low-risk class 3 buildings and hotels or motels with no strata or serviced apartments are exempt from 1 July 2024.

What triggers it: Preparing regulated designs for, or carrying out or contracting to carry out building work on, a class 2, 3 or 9c building (or a building with such a part) in New South Wales.

Jurisdiction: New South Wales law only. A business with no operations in NSW is outside it, whatever the rest of the test says.

Outcome across the 35 industries Rules Mate maps (1 of 35: only if a further fact applies; 34 of 35: no).

Structure does not change the answer in construction (residential & commercial): for every structure the answer is "only if a further fact applies".

Size does not change the answer in construction (residential & commercial): at every size band the answer is "only if a further fact applies".

Each line is one run of the Rules Mate applicability engine for a single business profile, with the reason the engine gives:

• Pty Ltd company in real estate agents with 6–19 employees, turnover $1M–$3M: does not apply. Requires a trigger outside this questionnaire.
• Pty Ltd company in construction (residential & commercial) with 6–19 employees, turnover $1M–$3M: check whether it applies. applies only if you design or build Class 2 (apartment) buildings.

The engine shows this obligation as "check whether this applies" when a business has industry: Construction (residential & commercial). It then applies only if you design or build Class 2 (apartment) buildings. That fact is not something Rules Mate can infer from industry, structure or size.

When due

Registration in the correct class before doing the work; regulated designs and design compliance declarations lodged on the NSW Planning Portal before the relevant building work starts (certifiers cannot issue a construction certificate without them); building compliance declaration and as-built designs lodged before applying for an occupation certificate; developers notify the expected date of the occupation certificate application and pay any building work levy.

Frequency

Ongoing

Evidence to keep

Registration certificates for each design practitioner, building practitioner and professional engineer class used; regulated designs and design compliance declarations; Planning Portal lodgement records; building compliance declaration and as-built designs; contractor licence or supervisor certificate under the Home Building Act 1989 underpinning registration; builders' annual CPD records.

Status

Current

Priority

Critical

Maximum penalty: Building Commission NSW can issue building work rectification orders, stop work orders and (before an occupation certificate) prohibition orders that block occupation, accept enforceable undertakings, issue penalty infringement notices and audit buildings for up to 10 years after the occupation certificate. Offence penalty amounts were not verified for this entry; check the Act on legislation.nsw.gov.au.

Rules Mate has not yet classified the audit or assurance level for this obligation. Any audit, review or certification requirement is set by the regulator source listed below.

Rules Mate tracks 3 published obligations tagged "building", 3 of them rated critical. For a professional services Pty Ltd company with 6–19 employees operating in every state, 0 of those apply outright. This obligation is rated critical priority, and is an ongoing duty.

Regulated by Building Commission NSW.

Building Commission NSW: NSW residential building regulator — created post-Opal Tower, Mascot Towers.

• Building Commission NSW

Free tools that help with this obligation:

• Compliance calendar builder