Housing - eCircular

02/09/2010

This e-Bulletin is to make builder members aware that on 1 September 2010 all building certification work undertaken by a council, must be undertaken by a council officer who is an accredited certifier under the Building Professional Board certifier accreditation scheme.

In summary, the changes effective from 1 September 2010 are:

  • Councils and council accredited certifiers will be subject to the provisions of the BP Act and BP Regulation
  • All building certification work must be undertaken by an accredited certifier with the appropriate level of accreditation(A1,A2,A3 or A4), depending on any specific conditions of accreditation
  • Building certification work includes the issue of complying development certificates, construction certificates, occupation certificates and compliance certificates and the carrying out of mandatory ‘critical stage’ inspections of building work
  • All councils must ensure certain certification work done on their behalf is completed by one of the following:
    • A council accredited certifier
    • A council accredited certifier from another council
    • A council accredited certifier who is a contractor
    • An accredited certifier operating as a private business
    • An accredited body corporate operating as a private business
  • Flexibility has been introduced to allow councils to complete certification work commenced before 1 September 2010 that it would otherwise be prevented from completing after 1 September 2010
  • Council accredited certifiers must comply with the Code of Conduct in the Board’s accreditation scheme, take part in the Board’s Continuing Professional Development program and satisfy the conflict of interest requirements under the BP Act
  • Councils have specific record-keeping obligations and need to record:
    • The name and accreditation number of each certifier
    • The date of their commencement or engagement by the council and the date of cessation of these terms, and
    • A brief description of each project where the certifier carried out certification work on behalf of the council
  • Councils need to notify the Board when a certifier commences employment with a council and when a certifier ceases to be employed by the council

Produced by Master Builder Association(MBA) E-Circular 2nd September 2010

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