New laws have been passed to restore public confidence in the NSW building industry and to stop dodgy builders and developers.
We already know about the first change which came in on 10 June 2020, owners of buildings with defects will benefit from the statutory duty of care that applies to new buildings, and existing buildings where an economic loss first became apparent in the previous 10 years.
in a number of days, from 1 September 2020 the NSW Building Commissioner will be able to stop an occupation certificate from being issued, order 
developers to rectify defective buildings, and issue stop work orders. This Act will improve the quality and compliance of construction work in NSW. This Act provides a suite of comprehensive investigation, rectification and enforcement powers to the Secretary of the Department of Customer Service and other delegated persons, including the Building Commissioner, for certain types of residential apartment building work and completed buildings, and establishes a mandatory developer notification scheme for building work which is at least six months from completion. Click here to read the new Residential Apartment Buildings (Compliance and Enforcement Powers) Act 2020 No 9 – start date is 1 September 2020.
These obligations apply to Class 2 buildings and buildings including a Class 2 component. These are typically multi-storey, multi-unit apartment buildings.
Then from 1 July 2021, there will be compulsory registration for practitioners involved in design and building work, including professional engineers.
For full details check the Building industry reforms section of the NSW Government website click here
