Timothy James O’Reilly - BDC3184 - 11 July 2025

Disciplinary ground and summary

1. The Registered Certifier engaged in conduct in connection with the carrying out of certification work that has fallen short of the standard of competence, diligence, and integrity that a member of the public is entitled to expect of a reasonably competent registered certifier under section 45(a) of the BDC Act by:
   • issuing CDCs for two (2) developments on the basis that they were complying development for the purposes of a ‘group home’ under the Housing SEPP, when the design of the developments was inconsistent with the meaning of a ‘group home’ and the developments were not complying development.
2. The Registered Certifier failed to comply with a condition of the registration under section 45(g) of the BDC Act by:
   • failing to request a BPB condition report from FRNSW before issuing the CDC for a development when he was required to do so under the conditions of his registration; and
   • having failed to request the necessary BPB Condition Report, consequently failed to consider any comment FRNSW may have made in respect of the development, when he was required to do so under the conditions of his registration.
3. The Registered Certifier contravened the certification legislation under section 45(b) of the BDC Act by:
   • acting against the public interest in issuing the CDCs and failing to comply with conditions of his registration, contravening clause 2(1), Schedule 5 to the BDC Regulation; and
   • failing to record the reasons for his determination that the developments were complying development for the purposes of a ‘group home’, and his decision to issue the CDCs, contravening clause 9, Schedule 5 to the BDC Regulation.

Disciplinary action

1. The Registered Certifier is reprimanded under section 48(1)(b) of the BDC Act with immediate effect.
2. The Registered Certifier is required to pay the Secretary, as a penalty, an amount of $35,000.00 within the time specified on the face of the penalty notice, pursuant to section 48(1)(c) of the BDC Act.
3. The following conditions are imposed on the Registered Certifier’s registration for a period of three (3) years from the date of imposition of these conditions and with immediate effect, pursuant to section 48(1)(d) of the BDC Act:
   1. the Registered Certifier must not enter into any new contracts for any activity authorised by the Registered Certifier’s registration until the Registered Certifier has complied with condition (2) below.
   2. within 12 months of the imposition of this condition, the Registered Certifier must complete and pass the UTS Certification Short Course (or a successor course or equivalent course offered by same institution, or equivalent course offered by another institution as agreed by the Secretary in writing);
   3. for each development where the Registered Certifier is exercising a function as a registered certifier, the Registered Certifier must;
      • create and store an index, in electronic format, of all records relied upon in relation to exercising the Registered Certifier’s functions as a registered certifier for the development (each version of a record must be separately identified by the date of the version of the record);
      • store each record in electronic format in an electronic records management storage system and title each record consistently with the title adopted in the index referred to in condition (3)(a) above; and
   4. the Registered Certifier must, within 6 months of the date of imposition of this condition, implement a documented compliance management system to ensure that the Registered Certifier complies with all relevant legislative obligations in relation to the Registered Certifier’s operations involving the carrying out functions as a registered certifier. The documented compliance management system is to meet the requirements of ISO 9001:2015 – Quality management systems;
   5. within 12 months of the date of imposition of this condition, the Registered Certifier must engage a professional auditor to audit compliance with condition (4) above and produce a report in relation to the following:
      • whether the documented compliance management system that has been implemented is sufficient to ensure the Registered Certifier’s operations comply with the Registered Certifier’s obligations under the Building and Development Certifiers Act 2018 and Part 7 of the Building and Development Certifiers Regulation 2000 and the registered certifiers’ Code of Conduct;
      • whether the documented compliance management system is being implemented in practice by the Registered Certifier;
      • whether there are best practice improvements that can be made to the Registered Certifier’s documented compliance management system and a description of those improvements; and
   6. The Registered Certifier must store and retain evidence of compliance with conditions (1) to (5) and provide those records on request to the Secretary within fourteen (14) days.

The aggravating factors affecting the final disciplinary action included: Mr O'Reilly's compliance history, submissions indicating that Mr O'Reilly considered the certification of the residential care buildings to be a lawful exercise of his public function, reliance in his submission on material that contained errors and the nature of submissions concerning his understanding of relevant obligations.