31 May 2024 release: Building Commission Building Reforms, Post-consent Certificate and other services.

BASIX service

The following enhancements were made to address usability:  

• The system generated BASIX certificate and BASIX report will only display the nominated alternative water source in the dwelling commitments.

• The windows commitment in the BASIX Certificate and BASIX report will be grouped by the orientation of the window for example all North facing windows will be listed together. 

Complying development certificate service

The following enhancements were made to improve the user experience:

• When a complying development certificate application has been submitted by a NSW Planning Portal ‘developer’ user type and the developer details are missing, the nominated certifier will be presented with a warning message. They will be required to input the developer details by selecting ‘Edit application’ from the ‘Actions’ menu prior to submitting the ‘Assessment’ screen. This will apply to class 2, 3 and 9c developments only. This enhancement will resolve developers not being able to access the ‘My Development Sites’ dashboard to initiate a building work case using ‘Plan Building Work’ button.
   
• The Action menu option ‘Assessment’ is visible to the nominated certifier even if there are outstanding tasks for the application.

Concurrence and referral service

The following change was made to address a known technical issue:

• An agency user can progress an Agency request (A-*** reference number) if the council is in the progress of editing the related Concurrence and referral request (CNR-*** reference number).

Controlled Activity Approval service

The following change was made to address a known technical issue:

• Documents generated during the pre-assessment stage of the controlled activity approval service are no longer visible the applicant.

Development application

The following change was made to address a known technical issue:

• The statement ‘This application has been assessed and has been: approved / refused / deferred commencement consent‘ will be visible on the ‘Capture determination’ screen of the development application when a related concurrence and referral request has been withdrawn or cancelled.

Post-consent Certificate service

The following enhancements were made to the construction certificate application for class 2,3 and 9c development to improve usability and to ensure that the correct developers’ details are captured prior to determination:

• When a NSW Planning Portal ‘developer’ user type selects ‘submit’ on a construction certificate application for class 2,3 and 9c development, the application will not proceed if the developer organisation details have not been provided. The developer will need to enter the missing information to submit the application. 

• When a construction certificate application has been submitted by a NSW Planning Portal ‘developer’ user type and the developer details are missing, the nominated certifier will be presented with a warning message. They will be required to input the developer details by selecting ‘Edit application’ from the ‘Actions’ menu prior to submitting the ‘Assessment’ screen. This will apply to class 2, 3 and 9c developments only. This enhancement will ensure that developers can initiate a building work case for this development.

Note: These enhancements will resolve developers not being able to access the ‘My Development Sites’ dashboard to initiate a building work case using ‘Plan Building Work’ button.

Short-term Rental Accommodation

The following change was made to the transfer of property management functionality:

• Any existing renewal requests will be transferred to the new registrant when the host transfers property management to a new registrant. The new registrant will be able to renew a STRA property listing without needing to contact the customer support team.

Building Commission Building Reforms – Regulated buildings pathway

Class 2 workflow enhancements

Class 2 buildings that received a development consent (development application or complying development certificate) prior to 1 July 2021 may fall under the transitional arrangements for the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020. Enhancements made to the NSW Planning Portal in May 2023 removed the transitional pathway for these developments. The transitional pathway is now being reinstated to allow developers to meet the required obligations.

There are 4 workflows that class 2 developments can follow in the NSW Planning Portal:

1. Building work commencement date is prior to, or on or after 1 July 2021 and is excluded building work

2. Building work commencement date is on or after 1 July 2021 and is not excluded building work

3. Building work commencement date is prior to 1 July 2021 and is not excluded building work 

4. Building work commencement date is prior to 1 July 2021 and is not excluded building work, but an associated CC or CDC is determined after 1 July 2021.

The enhancements released on 31 May 2024, impact workflows 3 and 4 only.

Building work commencement date is prior to 1 July 2021 and is not excluded building work

When the building work commencement date is prior to 1 July 2021 and the building work is not excluded, the following changes have been made as part of this release:

• The question ‘Does the building work involve encroaching ground anchor?’ will not be visible to the developer in the building work case.
   
• It is optional for the developer to nominate a building practitioner.
   
• When a building practitioner has been nominated, the option to lodge the regulated design documents will be visible. 
   
• The building regulated design practitioner will be required to complete an OC Audit assessment.
   
• The strata bond eligibility questions will be visible to the developer on the ‘Intent to seek Occupation Certificate” case.
   
• The ‘Intent to seek Occupation Certificate’ will be an option under the ‘Action’ menu on the building work case. 

Building work commencement date is prior to 1 July 2021 and is not excluded building work, but an associated CC or CDC is determined after 1 July 2021

When building work commencement date is prior to 1 July 2021 and the building work is not excluded, but an associated CC or CDC is determined after 1 July 2021, the following changes have been made as part of this release:

• The question ‘Does the building work involve encroaching ground anchor?’ will be visible to the developer in the building work case.
   
• The developer will be required to nominate a building practitioner on the building work case. If a building practitioner is not nominated, a warning message will be displayed on the ‘Intent to seek Occupation Certificate’ case.
   
• When a building practitioner has been nominated, the option to lodge the regulated design documents will be visible. 
   
• The building regulated design practitioner will be required to complete an OC Audit assessment.
   
• The strata bond eligibility questions will be visible to the developer on the ‘Intent to seek Occupation Certificate” case.
   
• The ‘Intent to seek Occupation Certificate’ will be an option under the ‘Action’ menu on the building work case. 
   
• The post Occupation Certificate Building Compliance Declaration to be performed by the same building practitioner who performed the building compliance declaration in the ‘Intent to seek Occupation Certificate’ case.

Application Programming Interface (API)

Minor enhancements on the following Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) due to the enhancements in this release have been communicated to vendors and middleware providers: Online Development Application service API v2, Online Certificate Registration service API v1, Online Complying Development Certificate service API v1, Online Post-consent certificate service API v1 and Online section 68 API v1. We encourage you to speak to your vendor about any specific impacts to your system. 

For more information, please view the release notes for the relevant API.

Support materials

The following Quick Reference Guides have been updated in the last month:

These updated documents can be found on either the Applicant Resources page of the NSW Planning Portal, or the knowledge management section of the NSW Planning Portal dashboard. Note: the latter is only available to certifier, council and agency users.