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Hi Flat Chat
Thanks for your article on the “Letter of the law costing owners way too much’ and the response from the Building Commissioner. When it comes to waterproofing for example there are very few waterproofing companies who are registered in one of the four key categories (Design Practitioners, Principal Design Practitioners, Building Practitioners or Professional Engineers). So it ends up needing one of the above to design or sign off. It would be interesting to know how many waterproofing companies are registered practitoners and how it can be increased!
The key issue re the DBP Act is that it was intended to address issues of ‘construction’ not ‘remediation’.
Hi Strata Ken
I do think there is a political aspect to this issue. The DBP Act was developed by the Office of the Building Commissioner, introduced into Parliament by the NSW Minister for Better Regulation and passed by the NSW Parliament on the 10 June 2020. There are proposed amendments to the Act due this year, 1 July 2026.
The bodies which have the most influence however, are Engineers Australia (EA), the Strata Community Association) (SCA NSW), – it might be possible to access them via your Strata Managers, Owners Corporation Network (OCN) and put forward suggestions.
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Hi thanks for your feedback.
Yes, it appears in the drafting of the DBP Act, the implication is that ‘ building consultants’ were not doing a sufficient job, hence the requirement to now have all works over $5,000 designed and managed by a ‘Building Practioner for Class 2, 3 and 9c buildings. I would assume that all builders and trades carry insurance and indemnities which is should provide a level of assurance of quality for apartment owners.
More responsibility needs to go back to these trades and consultants.