29 May 2026 release summary

Overview

This release includes:

• minor changes to the Intention to seek occupation certificate workflow
• minor enhancements to the certificate registration, concurrence and referral, controlled activity approval, development application services (Council and State), Division 5.1 assessment, planning proposals and register non-portal consent/certificate services and Major Projects Portal.

There are also some technical updates and fixes. View the sections below to understand the changes.

Minor changes to existing workflows

Intention to seek occupation certificate 

From 29 May 2026, new Intention to seek occupation certificate (ITSOC) cases, including amendment to existing ITSOC cases (expected completion amendment notices), will no longer require occupation certificate (OC) audit clearance from the Building Commission NSW (BCNSW) to proceed to OC, unless selected for audit. The following changes were made to the Intention to seek occupation certificate (ITSOC) service to support this change:

• ITSOC applications submitted prior to 29 May 2026 will continue to require OC Audit clearance before progressing to an OC, regardless of whether the case is selected for audit.
• New ITSOC cases, including amendment to existing ITSOC applications submitted after 29 May 2026 will no longer require OC Audit clearance to proceed to an OC, unless manually selected for audit by BCNSW.
• Cases selected for audit, regardless of when the ITSOC application was submitted must be reviewed and cleared by BCNSW before Developer can progress to an OC. 
• A new ‘Compliance Gates’ banner has been introduced on ITSOC cases. This banner displays all applicable legislative obligations for the specific case, such as As-Builts (Final set) declaration, Building Work Levy, Occupation Certificate Audit, and Strata Bond, as status cards that must be completed before the Developer can progress to an Occupation Certificate (OC).
• If an obligation is not applicable, the corresponding status card will not be displayed (e.g. if the Building Work Levy does not apply, its status card will not appear).
• Each status card includes additional guidance on next steps via tooltips and is color-coded as follows:
  • Orange – Pending
  • Green – Completed
  • Grey – Not applicable
• The OC Audit status is not applicable by default (Grey). It will change to Orange (in progress) if the case is selected for audit, and to Green once the audit has been completed.
• Updates to several email notifications within the post-consent certificate service to replace ‘NSW Fair Trading’ with ‘Building Commission NSW’.   

Enhancements to existing services

Following consultation with stakeholders, this release includes enhancements to the following services.

Concurrence and Referral 

• New clause ‘Water Management Act 2000 s90(4) – flood work approval’ added to the options available under Agency ‘Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water-Water Group’.  

Controlled activity approval

• Webpage hyperlink within the ‘CAA Approval’ system generated document updated.
• All references to ‘[email protected]’ within system generated documents updated to ‘[email protected]’.
• ‘Water Management (General) Regulation 2025 Division 2, 64 Works undertaken by public authorities’ option added to ‘What exemption/s applies?’ question on ‘Perform Triage’ screen.
• Webpage hyperlink within the ‘Draft IDAS Low Risk’ system generated document updated.
• Organisation name updated to ‘Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment, and Water-Water Group’ within the ‘Request for additional information’ system generated document.
• Exception error message removed on ‘Perform notification’ screen if the ‘Date of notification’ is not entered. The user will see a field level error message to request the information be provided.

Development application and State DA services

• Introduction of error message on the ‘Determination’ screen when a council or State Agency user attempts to determine a development application and a related concurrence and referral case is in progress.
• Planning Panel Secretariat declarations are not displayed to council, State Agency and applicant users on the ‘Amendment request’ screen within the ‘Amendment details’ tab when there is no Planning Panel Secretariat involvement.
• Documents uploaded as part of previous additional information requests are not displayed in the ‘Documents’ table when a council user creates a new additional information request within the Amendment request service.
• When a council or State Agency user uploads a document with the document category ‘Cost estimate report’, the document is displayed in the ‘Documents’ tab for council and applicant users within the Amendment request service.
• Applicant name is now displayed in upper case in the system generated emails triggered when an amendment request is submitted or withdrawn.
• Format changes to the ‘Submissions’ tab within State DA service, applicable when application exhibited through the NSW Planning Portal.

Division 5.1 (Part 5) Assessment  

• Update to the webpage hyperlink to the Division 5.1 assessment guidelines within the Division 5.1 (Part 5) Assessment service.

Major Projects Portal

The following changes were made within the Risk Assessment module of the Major Projects Portal:

• New mandatory question, ‘Are there any mitigating circumstances that will prevent the indicative number of inspections for this development from being conducted?’ added to the ‘Review’ screen.
• Updated ‘Risk Type’ options available for selection under the ‘Primary Risk Factor’ and ‘Secondary Risk Factor’ headings on the ‘Review’ screen 
• Help text is available for all risk indicators on ‘Project details’ screen.
• Risk indicators updated to include ‘Receptors’, ‘Development scale’, ‘Disruption to community’, ‘Compliance performance’, ‘Environmental performance’ and ‘Complexity of consent’. 
• ‘Risk Description’ is displayed below ‘Risk indicator’ and ‘Risk Type’ on ‘Project details’ screen. 
• Email notification is sent to the compliance officer when 6 months have passed since the Department’s approval of a project, post approval documentation has not been submitted, and the risk assessment module has not been initiated.
• Risk scores from risk assessment cases are displayed on the ‘Project details’ screen, including where the parent case was completed prior to the introduction of new risk factors.
• When the compliance officer is assessing the risk factor ‘Disruption to community’, a table is displayed under the ‘Complaint History’ heading on the ‘Project details’ screen including the columns: COM ID, COM Title and Date received.

Technical fixes

• Removal of error message in ‘Actions’ menu within the certificate registration service when a council or certifier user requests additional information.
• Documents uploaded when registering a non-portal consent/certificate application (ROC-) displayed in ‘Documents’ tab within the Register non-portal consent/certificate service.
• The ‘Documents’ tab within the following related applications: Building Information Certificate, complying development certificate, Online DA, State DA, Post-consent certificates, Section 10.7 Planning Certificate, Roads Act and Section 68 approvals services; to show ‘No results found’ if the applicant entered a NSW Planning Portal reference number created through the Register non-portal consent/certification service. 
• ‘Select the amendment type’ and ‘Is the proposal consistent with all relevant ministerial directions?’ fields cannot be edited from the ‘Proposal case details’ tab on the ‘Assessment’ screen within the Planning proposal service.
• Removal of error messages relating to water details for pools and spas within the BASIX application service that were preventing users from submitting applications, even when the data entered was complete.
• Reactivation of missing drop-down fields within the BASIX application service that were preventing users from entering the required values for:
  • Showerhead water ratings 
  • Energy Efficiency Ratios (EER) for cooling and heating 
  • Bathroom, Kitchen and Laundry exhaust ventilation
  • Ventilation systems in common areas.
• Correction of a hyperlink in the multi-dwelling BASIX application workflow on screen 1.3 – Project type.

Training and support

The following step-by-step guides have been updated or created this month and can be access on the Support Hub:

• How to create a concurrence and referral during the review and assessment of a development application
• How to upload agency communication to a concurrence and referral request 
• How to edit a concurrence and referral request
• How to complete the preliminary assessment stage within the Online DA service
• How to exhibit a development application on the NSW Planning Portal

The Department offers free training for NSW Planning Portal users. View the options available.