The person having the benefit of a development consent or complying development certificate (e.g. development owner) is responsible for appointing a certifier for their development. The onus is upon that person to find a certifier who is appropriate to the certification needs of their development.
Registered certifiers assess and determine applications for development certificates for building and subdivision work. Certifiers are public officials and independent regulators of development - they don’t work for builders or developers.
They are required to uphold the public interest and can only issue a development certificate if all legislative conditions are met. Most certifiers are qualified building surveyors who can issue development certificates, be appointed as the principal certifier, and carry out inspections.
Note: A person who may be an accredited certifier, but is acting in any other role than to certify building work, is being engaged as a consultant to the development (e.g. a building surveyor giving consultancy advice during fire engineering brief process).
The development owner must carefully consider the certifier's accreditation category, accreditation history, insurance and whether any conditions have been imposed on them by Building Commission NSW (or former accreditation bodies such as Building Professionals Board).
A certifier may be appointed as the principal certifier for the development only if they hold the appropriate accreditation. Your builder is not allowed to appoint the certifier or influence your choice of certifier.
Building Commission NSW maintains a register of all accredited certifiers for NSW, including details of their accreditation and conditions imposed on their registration (if any).
Find an accredited certifier [external link]
Sometimes conditions may be imposed upon a certifier that requires them to seek written advice from FRNSW prior to determining an application for complying development certificate (CDC), construction certificate (CC) or occupation certificate (OC). The condition/s may also stipulate that the certifier must consider FRNSW recommendations prior to their determination, and if any recommendation is not being followed or adopted, then they are required to notify FRNSW in writing accordingly.
The conditions imposed will typically define certain time periods for referral by the certifier and a response by FRNSW, and identify if any exceptions to the condition applies.
Certifier disciplinary register [external link]
Conditions may be imposed on a certifier by Building Commission NSW because of:
Further information is available from: