Privacy collection notice for home building, design and builder practitioner, or certifier complaints and enquiries

Who we are

Your information is being collected by Building Commission NSW, as part of the Department of Customer Service (DCS). 

Building Commission NSW gives priority to protecting the privacy of your personal and health information, in accordance with the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (PPIP Act) and Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 (HRIP Act).

If you have any questions about this document, or how we handle your personal information, you can contact our Privacy team using the contact details at the end of this notice.

Why we collect your personal information

Building Commission NSW, as part of the Department of Customer Service, is collecting your personal and health information through this form.

The purpose of the collection is to facilitate the receipt and general handling of your complaint or enquiry, and whether assistance is required, if English is not your first language or if there are accessibility considerations.

What personal information we collect

We may collect the following information about you:

• your full name and contact details (address, email and phone number)
• whether you speak English as a second language
• whether you identify as an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person
• whether you are a person with a disability*
• details about your complaint including third-party details of the business/builder/trader your complaint is about and the name of the Strata Manager or Chairperson
• property details where the work took place
• supporting documentation which may include copies of written contracts and contract variations, invoices, quotations, payment receipts, correspondence about the dispute, reports or photos in relation to defects, Certificates of Compliance, Occupation Certificates, Certificates of Insurance for Home Building Compensation cover, contract of sale for your property, proof of lodgement on behalf of the Owners Corporation and any other information or evidence you think will be helpful for us.
  
  _{*This information is ‘health information’ and attracts a higher level of protection under the HRIP Act}

Are you required by law to provide us with this information?

Providing us with the requested information is not required by law however if you choose not to provide us with the requested information, we may not be able to deal with your complaint or enquiry.

How we may use this information

We will use the personal information we collect about you in the following ways:

• To attempt to resolve your matter, which may include providing your personal information to the Trader or another government agency if appropriate.
• To investigate the matters which are the subject of your complaint and for related investigative or law enforcement purposes.
• To take action to secure compliance, or to remedy non-compliance, under legislation administered by the agency (including, but not limited to, the Home Building Act 1989, Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 and Building and Development Certifiers Act 2018. Refer to list of legislation which Building Commission NSW administers on Legislation administered by Building Commission NSW) in relation to the matters which are the subject of your complaint or related matters. This may include taking disciplinary action or instituting civil, criminal or disciplinary proceedings in the relevant court or tribunal.
• For internal administrative purposes, including liaising with you in relation to your complaint, and in relation to compliance, investigations and enforcement of any relevant Acts and Regulations.
• In deidentified form, to support more informed intelligence analysis, policy making, program management, evaluation, research, and service planning as it can facilitate more efficient service delivery for residents and business in NSW.
• Other directly related purposes.

How we may disclose this information

We may disclose your personal and/or health information to the Traders, or other NSW Government agencies, or other States or Territory governments and/or the Commonwealth government for the purposes of your complaint and for any compliance, enforcement and investigation purposes as required or authorised by law.

Other than as outlined above, we will not provide your personal information to anyone else unless we are authorised or permitted to do so by law or where you have given consent.

The DCS Privacy Management Plan describes when this may occur.

Protecting your information

We will store and manage your information in accordance with the provisions of the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 and the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002. We have measures in place to help protect your personal information from loss, unauthorised access, use, modification, disclosure, or other misuse.

We will only keep information for as long as we need it to fulfil the purposes, we collected it for. After which, the information will be disposed of securely in accordance with the State Records Act 1998 and any other applicable legislation.

See the DCS Privacy Management Plan for more information about how we handle your personal information.

Your rights

You have a legal right to access and update your personal information.  For more information about how to access or amend your personal information, please contact us at:

Email:buildingcommission@customerservice.nsw.gov.au or

Post:
Privacy Coordinator
Building Commission NSW
PO Box 226
Parramatta 
NSW 2124

For further details on how Building Commission NSW, as part of Department of Customer Service, collects and manages personal information, please see our Privacy Notice and the DCS Privacy Management Plan.

Building Commission NSW is located at 4 Parramatta Square, 12 Darcy Street, Parramatta NSW 2154.

Department of Customer Service is located at the McKell Building, 2-24 Rawson Place, Haymarket NSW 2000.