Home Conduct of certifiers The Board's powers

The Board's powers

Anyone may make a complaint about the professional conduct of an accredited certifier to the Building Professionals Board. Unless the Board dismisses a complaint (allowed in certain circumstances), Board staff will investigate the complaint.

The purpose of an investigation of a complaint is to determine whether an accredited certifier is guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct or of the more serious act of professional misconduct as defined under section 19 of the Building Professionals Act 2005.

Where an accredited certifier is found guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct or professional misconduct, the BPB can take a number of disciplinary actions including:

• Caution or reprimand the certifier
• Place conditions on the certificate of accreditation
• Order the undertaking of specific education courses
• Order the certifier to report on their practices
• Impose a fine up to $110,000
• Order that the certifier pay compensation up to $20,000
• Suspend a certifier's accreditation
• Cancel a certifier's accreditation
• Order that the certifier cannot re-apply for a certificate of accreditation within such period as may be specified by the Board
• Order no further action be taken
• Refer the matter to the Administrative Decisions Tribunal (ADT) for a hearing

The Board has no power to rectify unauthorised building work for a particular development consent. Councils have specific powers to require compliance with the development and to deal with unauthorised works under section 121B of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979. For more information on the enforcement powers of council see Enforcement Powers.

The Board may only deal with complaints made against accredited certifiers and has no power to act on complaints about other persons such as builders or property owners.

Under the Home Building Act 1989, anyone may make a complaint about the conduct of a licensed builder to the Home Building Service within the Office of Fair Trading.