Building Act Post-Moratorium Reform

A building certification moratorium is currently in place to allow owners of buildings built before 28 April 2009 to achieve compliance. The owners of existing buildings which are unauthorised or have incomplete certification have to 30 June 2016 to achieve compliance with certification requirements. Buildings assessed to be a hazard to people will continue to be subject to enforcement action during this time. For more information about the moratorium  refer to the Moratorium Fact Sheet

In February 2014 a discussion paper titled ‘Post Moratorium: Reform of Building Regulation in the NT‘ was released to frame the policies that could address issues in the certification of building works.

Following consultation, Government determined to take a staged approach to building certification reform consisting broadly of:

• Tranche 1: creation of a three-tiered occupancy certification system;
• Tranche 2: mechanisms to increase capacity within the building certification system; and
• Tranche 3: building a compliant culture. 

Building Act Post-Moratorium Reforms

The Department has consulted and sought feedback on Tranche 1 of the reforms to address the end of the building certification moratorium.

Legislation has been drafted to provide for a three-tiered occupancy certification system to allow new pathways for buildings to become lawfully occupied.