Key information
The Building Productivity Reforms (the reforms) aim to support the construction industry to deliver more housing.
The legislation for the proposed reforms is the Building (Approvals and Practitioners) Bill 2026 (the Bill), which was introduced to Parliament in May 2026.
The reforms are focused on key areas:
- Providing a clear regulatory framework for prefabricated homes and modular buildings.
- Modernising the building approvals system.
- Enhancing dispute resolution processes for occupied apartment buildings.
- Clarifying the role of certifiers and strengthening conflict of interest laws and penalties.
The reforms will amend existing laws, with associated regulations setting out the details of requirements to support the Act.
What the reforms seek to deliver
- Support for the uptake of prefabricated homes and modular buildings.
- Faster and more streamlined building approval processes.
- More timely and cost-effective resolution of building defect disputes.
- Enhanced certifier accountability.
Why do we need the building productivity reforms?
We are prioritising focused changes to existing building laws to deliver the most benefit for the NSW economy and more housing construction and completions.
To support increasing housing supply, the reforms will:
- formally recognise prefabricated and modular buildings as 'buildings' in legislation to provide consistency to the regulation of the industry and efficiencies to support building more homes
- streamline the building approvals processes by reducing administrative steps and duplication.
To give the public greater confidence in the building industry, the reforms will:
- clarify certifier conflict of interest laws and introduce stronger penalties for breaches
- ensure certifiers can focus on build quality and approvals by clarifying the role the certifier plays.
Responding to industry consultation on the initial draft legislation, an additional area of change has been included in the Bill. It proposes an amendment to the Residential Apartment Buildings (Compliance and Enforcement Powers) Act 2020 to enable the development of regulations detailing a structured dispute resolution process for occupied apartment buildings.
The proposed areas of reform
We propose to regulate prefabricated buildings by treating them the same as traditionally constructed homes. This will ensure that prefabricated buildings comply with building standards and the relevant building approvals process.
To further increase consumer confidence in modular building, the reforms will also set clear obligations for the manufacture, supply, transport, delivery and installation of prefabricated buildings.
This will establish a chain of responsibility in the manufacturing and supply process, creating greater accountability and more certainty in the process of designing, planning and building homes.
The regulations will support these reforms by introducing consumer protections, tailored certification processes and licensing requirements, where appropriate, to ensure greater confidence in the quality of the work.
To support more timely approvals, we will establish a new building approvals framework for all building classes covering:
- approval to build
- variations to building plans
- post consent processes (including after a CDC is issued)
- occupation/completion approvals.
The changes will be enabled by taking building approvals legislation out of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act (1979) and moving it under the Bill.
This will reflect that building approvals occur after planning approval and signal building work is subject to oversight by the building regulator, Building Commission NSW.
The new building approvals framework will:
- reduce legislative overlap between planning and building laws
- provide an opportunity to remove redundant steps and process
- ensure building approvals requirements are scaled to the complexity and risk of the building
- reduce duplication in the documentation required to obtain approval and commence construction
- formalise staged building approvals.
We're proposing to amend existing legislation to clarify conflict of interest provisions for certifiers and increase penalties for breaches of these laws.
While most certifiers comply with their statutory obligation to act in the public interest, the reforms will make it clear when a conflict arises and when a certifier cannot be involved in the development.
The maximum court-imposed penalties for breaches is proposed to increase from $33,000 to $1.1m, and enable automatic suspension if the courts convict the certifier for a breach of the conflict of interest provisions.
These changes intend to increase consumer confidence in certifiers in the building sector as demand for certification work increases.
The Residential Apartment Buildings (Compliance and Enforcement Powers) Act 2020 (RAB Act) is proposed to be amended to enable a structured dispute resolution process for occupied apartment buildings to be established in the regulations.
The associated regulations, to be developed, would provide details on the disputes to which the dispute resolution would apply, the process and timeframes for the dispute resolution process and what findings and enforcement may apply.
Related information
- New building laws for a new era of approvals and modern methods of construction in NSW
- Minns Government building reforms to lay the foundation for modular and prefabricated homes to boost housing completions
- Changes in the residential building industry
- Legislation administered by Building Commission NSW
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