Private certifiers are wrongly approving development without fear of consequences. It could be you or your family impacted next and when it happens you'll be screaming out for someone to listen. We call upon the NSW Government to fix the private certification system. 

Private certification in NSW was introduced in 1998 to fast-track simple development approvals and ease the burden on councils. Since then, it has morphed into an industry that is essentially unregulated. The shortcomings of the current system allow private certifiers to wrongly approve major developments and ignore homeowner and community concerns with impunity. This can lead to the introduction of potentially life-threatening safety hazards, severely damaged and devalued property, compromised privacy, and reduced home security.

Key problems are:

• Home builders choose their certifier. This extraordinary conflict of interest means anyone wanting to skirt around building regulations just finds themselves a dodgy certifier. There's nothing to stop them shopping around NSW until they do.
• Local councils don't have sufficient resources to intervene. The costs for councils to issue enforcement orders are considerable and rarely, if ever, fully recoverable. Further, councils are receiving hundreds, in some cases thousands, of complaints each year about private certifiers. The current laws have forced many councils to abandon their enforcement role.
• NSW Fair Trading almost never use their disciplinary power. Despite local councils receiving thousands of complaints annually about private certifiers, NSW Fair Trading has disciplined FOUR certifiers since 2020 (Certifier Disciplinary Register 13/8/2023). Even certifiers who have approved plans later invalidated in Court, or who have paid out large financial settlements to complainants, do not appear in the Certifier Disciplinary Register.
• It is extremely difficult to contest private certifiers in Court. Councils and neighbours have 90 days after approval to challenge the legal validity of development certificates. This is not long enough to investigate, raise issues with the certifier, and negotiate with them. Especially when certifiers intentionally delay negotiations. Further, the costs of legal proceedings to challenge a development are frequently more than $100,000 – of which successful applicants typically see a maximum of 60-70% reimbursed. It is unreasonable, and often impossible, for local councils and neighbours to front this sort of money. Private certifiers, on the other hand, are less concerned by legal action because they’re protected by indemnity insurance.  

These flaws encourage, reward, and protect dodgy certifiers. We challenge the NSW Government to fix the private certification system.

Please sign and share this petition to #StopDodgyCertifiers

David Boettiger

If you’ve been impacted by a private certifier, please share your story in the comments section. 

Here’s how I was impacted – Oatley man’s $100k legal battle over neighbour’s pool deck

And here are some other recent articles about dodgy certifiers in NSW:

‘They’d knocked down half the house’: Councils powerless to stop dodgy builders (SMH 27/11/2022)

Building certifiers ignoring NSW planning rules (Daily Telegraph 28/5/2022)

Councils want powers to take on private certifiers amid building site complaints (SMH 10/1/2021)

Building certifiers pushed to skip on-site inspections (Daily Telegraph 4/1/2019)

Call for compliance (Northern Beaches Advocate 1/5/2023)

"Tools of the devil" (St George and Sutherland Leader 24/8/2022)

Family’s ‘nightmare’ over ‘castle’ next door (News.com.au 6/10/2022)