Privacy policy

Introduction

CertifiBuild Pty Ltd provides building certification in New South Wales through certifiers registered under the Building and Development Certifiers Act 2018 (NSW). We certify Class 1 buildings (including new homes, duplexes, townhouses and granny flats) and Class 10 structures (such as swimming pools, sheds, carports and other outdoor structures).

This policy sets out how CertifiBuild gathers, uses, holds and shares personal information. We manage it in keeping with the APPs (Australian Privacy Principles) set out in the Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988.

Information we collect

To assess applications, issue certificates and carry out inspections, we collect:

We usually collect this information from you, your designer, builder or other agent, or from council and the NSW Planning Portal.

Ways we use personal information

We use personal and property information only for building certification and related purposes, including to:

• Assess Complying Development Certificate (CDC) and Construction Certificate (CC) applications.
• Lodge certificates and documents through the NSW Planning Portal and with the relevant council, as the law requires.
• Book, carry out and record critical stage inspections.
• Issue Occupation Certificates (OC) and other compliance documents.
• Contact you about your project, including requests for further information, notices and outcomes.
• Issue invoices and manage payments.

How we store and protect your information

We use reasonable safeguards to keep personal information safe from loss, misuse and interference. We also guard it against unauthorised access, modification or disclosure, and review our systems regularly. No method of storing or sending information online is completely secure, so we cannot promise absolute security.

Disclosure to others

We pass on personal information only when certification work calls for it or a law demands it. This includes disclosure to:

• The relevant council, for its records and the certificates register.
• The NSW Planning Portal and NSW Government agencies, including Building Commission NSW as the certifier regulator.
• Engineers and other consultants who help us check that an application complies.
• Our IT, storage and accounting providers, who must keep the information confidential.

Personal information is never sold, rented or traded by us. Where a service provider of ours stores data outside Australia, we take reasonable measures to ensure it is protected to the level the Australian Privacy Principles require.

Your rights

You can ask to:

• View any personal information we keep about you.
• Correct personal information that is inaccurate, out of date or incomplete.

Please raise any privacy concern or complaint with us first, and we will reply within 30 days. If the issue is still unresolved after our reply, you may lodge a complaint with the OAIC (Australian Information Commissioner).

How long we keep records

Our registered certifiers must keep a record of all certification work (Building and Development Certifiers Regulation 2020, Part 7). These records include applications, determinations, certificates, the plans and documents relied on, and a record of every inspection. The records must be kept securely and in a form that can be readily inspected. We hold certificates and their accompanying documents for 10 years after they are issued, and inspection records for 10 years from the inspection date. Where another law requires it, some records are held for longer. When records are no longer required, we securely destroy or permanently delete them.

Invoices, payment records and other financial records are kept for 7 years after the transactions they relate to are completed, as section 286 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) requires. This also meets the record-keeping period that generally applies under tax law.

Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes in the law or in how we work. The date at the top of this page shows when it was last updated.