The NSW Government has proposed the Building (Approvals and Practitioners) Bill 2026, recommending significant reforms to the state’s building certification system. If enacted, the Bill would overhaul the current framework of construction and occupation certificates with a new regime based on building and completion approvals, while repealing several existing pieces of legislation, including the Building and Development Certifiers Act 2018, the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020, and parts of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 relating to building certification.
Among the proposed changes is a new process allowing building approvals and completion approvals to be issued in stages. Applicants undertaking staged projects would be required to submit a staging schedule with their initial application, while approval authorities would need to consider how each stage interacts with the broader development. Moreover, the Bill outlines a new mechanism for varying building approvals and introduces a post-commencement authorisation process where work has begun without the necessary approval.
The proposed legislation would also alter the current position by restricting applications for building and completion approvals and completion approvals to parties who have obtained the landowner’s consent. This represents a departure from the existing regime, where a person with the benefit of development consent may generally apply for construction and occupation certificates even if they do not own the land.The expanded consent requirement may create additional hurdles for developers, tenants and others with interests in land who require approval to commence or finalise works, particularly where third-party landowner cooperation is difficult to obtain.
Lastly, Bill introduces a regulatory framework for prefabricated buildings and would bring manufactured homes within the planning approval regime by requiring development consent in circumstances where it is currently unnecessary. It also strengthens enforcement powers by making non-compliance with certain written directions issued by approval authorities a criminal offence and removes the Land and Environment Court’s existing power to substitute its own decision on certain certification disputes. Although the reforms aim to modernise and streamline approvals, many of the changes remain subject to parliamentary approval and have not yet commenced.
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