Cr Downey said the majority of private certifiers in our City were highly professional, responsive and diligent in ensuring compliance with planning legislation but “there are some flouting the rules and we are seeing more and more projects where construction works deviate from approved plans”.
She said in some instances, residents had been forced to vacate their premises due to significant structural issues and that had eroded the confidence of the community in the housing industry, making it difficult for them to buy a home with the same level of assurance as before.
Despite NSW Fair Trading being the authority responsible for investigating complaints regarding private certifiers, Cr Downey said each year the council had seen an increase in the number of complaints from the community about from the growing number of projects across our City and NSW being approved by private certifiers.
“While the responsibility of investigating complaints against private certifiers rests with the
NSW Fair Trading (and that process is time consuming and resource intensive), quite clearly
the current situation is unsatisfactory,” she said.
“The council has received numerous complaints from residents who feel powerless when a development is being constructed next to their homes, reporting that in some instances private certifiers have failed to even return their calls.”
Those complaints are then directed to NSW Fair Trading “which adds another layer of frustration” for complainants.
“Our community deserves much better,” Cr Downey said.
Before 1998, construction projects were assessed solely by councils through development applications and building applications, but since the private certifiers have been allowed to act autonomously without input from the council.
“During that time, our staff oversaw these projects, and our community knew who to approach if they had concerns about a building project nearby,” Cr Downey said.
