5 April 2024 release summary: BASIX, Post-consent Certificate and other digital services

BASIX service

The following enhancements were made to address usability:  

• Amendment of the label “Date of lodgement” to “Date of submission” for development applications.
• Introduced the “primary address” checkbox when applicant enters site address. This ensures a consistent user experience across the NSW Planning Portal digital services.
• Applied the NSW Design Style to the error message displayed when a user attempts to amend an older version of a BASIX Certificate.
• The value “Low emission” will only be displayed as an option when:
  • “concrete slab on ground” is the floor type for a dwelling. This value will no longer be visible for other dwelling floor types.
  • “concrete suspended” is the external wall construction type. This value will no longer be visible for other external wall construction types.
  • “concrete slab on ground” or “concrete suspended” is the floor type for a garage floor. This value will no longer be visible for other garage floor types.
• The “project type” options have been updated within the BASIX Certificate application.
• The “cooling load feedback” and “heating load feedback” will display the progress bar for Thermal performance when total load has failed.
• The applicant can select “Undecided” as an option for “window U-value” and “Solar Heat Gain Coefficient” value. This will not impact the target scores.
• The overshadowing commitment will be displayed in BASIX Certificates only when the user selects “overshadowing for windows”.
• The BASIX Certificate template has been updated to include the external wall area.
• The BASIX version has been updated from version 4.01 to version 4.02. This will be updated on the BASIX Certificate.
• The email notification to advise the user that an “in progress” BASIX Certificate application that has been inactive for 180 days, will be automatically cancelled if not actioned has been updated. 
• Users applying for a BASIX Certificate within the Tamworth local government area will have a new climate zone classification option 48. Climate zone 65 classification has been removed.
• The defect affecting the ability for some users to open migrated applications that were bulk transferred to them has been resolved.

To support the reforms to the method of calculating development cost that came into effect on 4 March 2024, the following label change was made: 

• The existing label “Capital investment value“ was renamed to “Estimated development cost”. 

Post-consent Certificate service

The following enhancements will be made to improve usability:

Building work case

• Ability for developers to capture additional addresses in building works cases after submission, and to select multiple addresses for Strata Bond and Occupation Certificate applications.
• Ability to disable primary address selection and/or delete an address on the building work case that was pre-populated from the related development application or complying development certificate application. 
• When the building practitioner nomination is revised, the tasks associated with the previous building practitioner role will be automatically allocated to the new building practitioner on the building work case. This will remove the need for practitioners to contact the customer support team for assistance.

Intent to Seek Occupation Certificate

• Enhancements to Expected Completion Amendment Notices (ECAN) to allow developers to amend an expected completion notice at any stage of the ITSOC process prior to the creation of an Occupation Certificate.
• New pathway for developments with Latent Defect Insurance (LDI) policies in lieu of Strata Bond.
• A new mandatory field where the user must select the “ITSOC relevant” checkbox beside the relevant site address for the ITSOC application.
• New option “Confirm ITSOC relevant address(es)” within Action menu displayed when there are multiple addresses for an ITSOC application. This will allow the user to select the relevant address for the ITSOC application.
• Introduction of a validation that prevents the “Strata Bond” being initiated via the Action menu when there are multiple addresses and the user has not marked any as ITSOC relevant. An error message will be displayed to advise the user to select at least one address as ITSOC relevant. 
• Introduction of a validation that prevents the user selecting “Apply for OC” when there are multiple addresses and the user has not marked any as ITSOC relevant.
• New addresses on the building works case will be displayed on new ITSOC cases only. They will not be displayed on existing ITSOC cases.
• Display of new instructional text on ITSOC cases to advise the user to select relevant address(es). This information will be displayed on occupation certificate applications, and the Strata Building Bond case (if applicable).

Occupation Certificate

• Introduction of a new field called “BASIX issue date” on the “Issue a BASIX Completion Receipt” screen to minimise confusion with other dates on the BASIX Completion Receipt.
• ITSOC relevant addresses will be pre-populated on the Occupation Certificate application.

Remediation Works

• Visibility of all available documents in the documents tab for remediation works cases. This will include pagination and the removal of the document view limit.

Strata bond

• Ability for the developer to withdraw “In progress” Strata Bond cases via the “Action” menu.
• ITSOC relevant addresses will be pre-populated on the Strata Bond case.
• A new column “SB relevant” is displayed next to the ITSOC relevant addresses on the Strata Bond creation page. The addresses selected as ITSOC relevant, will be displayed with the corresponding check box pre-selected. This field is editable if an address needs to be unselected.
• Display of instructional text on the Strata Bond case to advise a user what to do if the relevant address(es) are not displayed.
• New document type “Latent Defect Insurance (LDI)” that is mandatory when “LDI” is selected in the Strata Bond section of the ITSOC case.
• Strata bond amount to be defaulted to zero when “LDI” is selected in the Strata Bond section of the related ITSOC case.
• Enabling transitional arrangements for the stages of Class 2 developments where building work commenced prior to 1 July 2021.

To support the reforms to the method of calculating development cost that came into effect on 4 March 2024, the following changes were made: 

• The existing label “Cost of development” was renamed to “Estimated development cost” for subdivision works certificate applications. 
• Removal of the ‘?’ from the existing label “Please provide the estimated development cost including GST?” field on the Construction Certificate application screen. Note: This field has also been amended on the review screen for the nominated certifier.

Major Projects

To support the reforms to the method of calculating development cost that came into effect on 4 March 2024, the following label changes were made: 

• The existing label “Capital investment value” was renamed to “Estimated development cost” for the pre-development application.
• The existing label “Indicative additional development cost” was renamed to “Indicative additional estimated development cost” for the pre-development application.
• The document category “Estimated Development Cost report”will display for all State Significant Infrastructure and State Significant Development applications submitted after 4 March 2024.
• The document category “Quantitative Surveyors Report” will display for all State Significant Infrastructure and State Significant Development applications prior to the 4 March 2024. 
• Updated help text for the “Estimated development cost” field for State Significant Infrastructure, State Significant Development and pre-development applications.

State Design Review Panel

To support the reforms to the method of calculating development cost that came into effect on 4 March 2024, the following change was made: 

• Help text for the “Estimated development cost” field on the application details tab of the pre-lodgement stage was updated and re-introduced.

Activation Precinct Certificate

To support the reforms to the method of calculating development cost that came into effect on 4 March 2024, the following change was made: 

• The existing label “Cost of development” was renamed to “Estimated development cost” for subdivision works certificate applications. 

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 Post-consent Certificate service API v1, Online CDC service 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.