Australian Construction Industry Insurance Update

Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 (NSW)

The Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 (NSW) (Act) has recently commenced. The Act places new obligations on design and building practitioners to ensure that each step of construction is well documented and compliant. It forms part of the NSW Government's response to the Shergold and Weir "Building Confidence" report that was published in February 2018 on the effectiveness of national compliance and enforcement systems. The Building Confidence report found, among other things, that the accountabilities of different parties were unclear and there were insufficient controls on the accuracy of documentation.

The Act:

• places builders, designers and others under a statutory duty of care to owners to avoid economic loss caused by defects;