Division 4Division 4 Provisions relating to contractor licences, certificates, building consultancy licences and owner-builder permits
In this Division, authority means:(a) a contractor licence (whether or not an endorsed contractor licence), or(b) a supervisor or tradesperson certificate, or(c) an owner-builder permit, or(d) a building consultancy licence.
(1) An applicant for an authority, or for the variation, renewal or restoration of an authority, must give the Director-General written particulars of any change in the particulars or information accompanying the application that occurs before the applicant is given notice of the determination of the application within 7 days (or such longer period as the Director-General allows in a particular case) after the change.Maximum penalty: 50 penalty units.
(2) Particulars of any change given by the applicant are then to be considered to have formed part of the original application for the purposes of the application of subsection (1) to any further change in the particulars or information provided.(3) This section does not apply to any change in particulars or information if the Director-General has notified the applicant in writing that the Director-General does not require particulars of any change in the particulars or information concerned or does not require particulars of the type of change concerned.
35 Director-General may obtain information from third parties
(1) The Director-General may, by notice in writing, require an applicant for a contractor licence (whether or not an endorsed contractor licence), an applicant for the renewal or restoration of such a licence or a close associate of the applicant:(a) to authorise a person described in the notice:(i) to provide such information as is specified in the notice as is relevant to the investigation of the application, or(ii) to produce, in accordance with directions in the notice, such records relevant to the investigation of the application as are specified in the notice and to permit examination of the records, the taking of extracts from them and the making of copies of them, or(b) to furnish to the Director-General such authorities and consents as the Director-General directs for the purpose of enabling the Director-General to obtain information (including financial and other confidential information) from other persons concerning the person or close associate.(2) If a requirement made under this section is not complied with, the Director-General may refuse to consider the application concerned while the non-compliance continues.(3) A person who complies with a requirement of a notice under this section does not on that account incur a liability to another person.
(1) An authority is subject to:(a) any conditions prescribed by the regulations for authorities of the same kind, and(b) any conditions imposed by order of the Director-General and set out in it when it is issued, except to any extent that they may be inconsistent with conditions referred to in paragraph (c), and(c) any conditions imposed by order of the Director-General and set out in a notice served on the holder of the authority.(2) A person issued with an authority must not contravene any requirement made by the conditions of the authority.Maximum penalty: 40 penalty units in the case of a corporation and 20 penalty units in any other case.
37 Restrictions on certain authorities
An endorsed contractor licence or a supervisor or tradesperson certificate does not authorise its holder to do or supervise specialist work merely because it authorises its holder to do or supervise residential building work.
(1) The Director-General may, but only if the Director-General considers that special circumstances exist, issue an authority to an applicant even though the applicant does not meet a requirement imposed by or under this Act for the issue of the authority.(2) When any such authority is issued, the Director-General is required to indicate, in a notice served on the applicant, that it is a provisional authority.(3) The Director-General may cancel the provisional nature of an authority at any time by serving notice to that effect on the holder of the authority.(4) The Director-General may cancel a provisional authority at any time by serving notice of cancellation on the holder of the authority.
40 Renewal or restoration of authorities
(1) The Director-General must reject an application for the renewal or restoration of an authority if:(a) the Director-General is not satisfied that the applicant is a fit and proper person to hold the authority, or(b) the applicant is a mentally incapacitated person, or(c) the applicant is disqualified by this Act or the regulations from holding the authority or would be so disqualified when the renewal would take effect, or(d) the Director-General considers that a close associate of the applicant who would not be a fit and proper person to hold an authority exercises a significant influence over the applicant or the operation and management of the applicant’s business.(1A) Without limiting subsection (1) (a), in determining whether an applicant is a fit and proper person to hold an authority the Director-General is to consider whether the applicant is of good repute, having regard to character, honesty and integrity.(2) The Director-General may reject an application for renewal or restoration of an authority if:(a) further particulars requested from the applicant are outstanding, or(b) the authority is surrendered or cancelled before it is due to expire, or(c), (d) (Repealed)(e) a judgment against the applicant for money owed to the Director-General is not satisfied, or(f) the authority is a provisional authority, or(g) the Director-General is empowered to reject the application by the regulations.(2A) The Director-General must reject an application for renewal or restoration of a contractor licence if the Director-General is not satisfied that the applicant has complied or is able to comply with any requirements of Part 6 and any requirements of the regulations relating to insurance applicable to the doing of work, or the supplying of a kit home, of a kind authorised or proposed to be authorised by the contractor licence.(2B) The Director-General may reject an application for renewal or restoration of a contractor licence or building consultancy licence if an employee or proposed employee of the applicant is disqualified from holding such a licence, has had an application for such a licence rejected on a ground relating to his or her character, honesty or integrity or has had such a licence cancelled or suspended on a disciplinary ground.(2C) (Repealed)(2D) The Director-General may approve further education courses, or other training, that must be completed by specified persons before an application for renewal or restoration of an authority can be accepted.(2E) The Director-General may reject an application for renewal or restoration of an authority if the Director-General is not satisfied that, in the year before the authority is proposed to be renewed or restored:(a) the applicant, or(b) in the case of an applicant that is a corporation, the directors of that corporation or any class of persons specified by the Director-General, or(c) in the case of an applicant that is a partnership, each partner or any class of persons specified by the Director-General, or(d) an employee of the applicant,has undertaken or completed, for at least as many hours as are required by the Director-General, the further education course or courses, or other training, approved by the Director-General for the purposes of this section.(2F) Subsection (2E) does not apply to an application for renewal or restoration of a building consultancy licence made by a person who is insured under an approved policy of professional indemnity insurance and who:(a) is registered as an architect under the Architects Act 2003, or(b) is accredited under section 109T of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 in relation to any of the matters prescribed by the regulations under this Act, or(c) is registered under the Valuers Act 2003, or(d) has qualifications prescribed by the regulations.(3) The Director-General may also reject an application for restoration of an authority if the Director-General is not satisfied that:(a) failure to apply for renewal of the authority before it expired was due to inadvertence, or(b) it is just and equitable to restore the authority.(4) The Director-General may, under subsection (3), reject an application for restoration if:(a) it requests the applicant or a nominee of the applicant to appear at a reasonable time at an office of the Department of Fair Trading to be examined concerning the merits of the application, and(b) the applicant or nominee fails to so attend or fails to answer any question put (whether or not at such an examination) by or on behalf of the Director-General and reasonably related to ascertaining the merits of the application.(5) (Repealed)
42 Term of licence or certificate
Unless previously surrendered, suspended or cancelled, an authority (other than an owner-builder permit) continues in force from the time of its issue or last renewal for such term (not exceeding 3 years) as is specified in it.
43 Cancellation because of fraud etc
(1) The Director-General may, by serving on the holder of the authority a written notice setting out the reason for the cancellation, cancel an authority if:(a) the authority was issued, renewed or restored because of a misrepresentation (whether fraudulent or not), or(b) the authority was issued, renewed or restored in error (whether as a result of such a misrepresentation or not).(2) The Director-General may, by a further notice served on the holder of an authority cancelled under this section, retrospectively restore the authority if the Director-General is satisfied:(a) that the error concerned has been rectified, and(b) that the holder acted in good faith.
44 Return of cancelled or varied authority
(1) Immediately after an authority is cancelled or the Director-General either varies the authority the Director-General confers or imposes a condition on the authority by service of a notice, the person to whom it was issued must:(a) lodge the authority at an office of the Department of Fair Trading, or(b) if unable to lodge the authority, lodge at an office of the Department of Fair Trading a statement signed by the person and providing accurate and complete details of why the authority cannot be lodged.Maximum penalty: 40 penalty units in the case of a corporation and 20 penalty units in any other case.
(2) When subsection (1) has been complied with by a person because of a variation or the imposition of a condition, the Director-General must issue an appropriate replacement authority to the person for the residue of the term of the former authority.(3) When an authority that has not been cancelled is lodged under this section, the Director-General is to cancel the authority.
An authority cannot be transferred.
46A Lending of authority prohibited
(1) The holder of an authority must not let out, hire or lend the authority to any other person or permit any other person to use the authority.Maximum penalty: 1,000 penalty units in the case of a corporation and 200 penalty units in any other case.
(2) A court that convicts a person for an offence under this section is to order the cancellation of the authority concerned. The authority is cancelled on the making of the order.
The holder of an authority must immediately produce the authority for inspection on demand by:(a) any person with whom the holder has contracted to do residential building work, building consultancy work or specialist work or to whom the holder has made a statement indicating that the holder is willing or prepared to do any such work or to enter into a contract to do any such work, or(b) the owner or occupier of any land, building, vehicle or vessel on or in which the holder is doing residential building work, building consultancy work or specialist work or on or in which the holder has contracted to do any such work, or(b1) any person with whom the holder has contracted for the supply of a kit home or to whom the holder has made a statement indicating that the holder is willing or prepared to supply a kit home or to enter into a contract to supply a kit home, or(c) any person authorised in writing for the purposes of this section by the Director-General, or(d) any person authorised in writing for the purposes of this section by any local or public authority which is responsible for the control of residential building work, building consultancy work or specialist work which the holder is carrying out, or(e) any investigator appointed under section 18 of the Fair Trading Act 1987.Maximum penalty: 40 penalty units in the case of a corporation and 20 penalty units in any other case.
47A Appointment of person to co-ordinate or supervise work if authority suspended, cancelled or surrendered
(1) If an authority is suspended, cancelled or surrendered under this or any other Act, the Director-General may, if the Director-General is satisfied that it is in the public interest to do so, by instrument in writing appoint a person to co-ordinate or supervise any work that has not been completed under any contract entered into by the holder of that authority.(2) The appointment is not valid unless the person appointed has consented to the appointment.(3) In appointing a person, the Director-General must have regard to the suitability of the person to co-ordinate or supervise the work. The person appointed need not be the holder of an authority under this Act.(4) Before appointing a person, the Director-General must obtain the consent of the person for whom the work is being done.(5) The person is to be appointed on any terms and conditions that the Director-General thinks fit.(6) Those conditions may include a condition that the person supervise the holder of the former authority to do the work.(7) The appointment of a person under this section may be terminated at any time by the Director-General.(8) The terms and conditions of an appointment under this section may be varied by the Director-General at any time, with the consent of the appointed person.(9) A person appointed under this section who is not the holder of an authority under this Act is not liable to be prosecuted for performing any work to which the appointment relates without holding an authority.(10) The appointment of a person under this section has no effect on any contract for any work to which it relates or on any contract of insurance, or on the liability of any person under any contract of insurance, in relation to any work to which it relates.
Nothing in this Part affects a requirement made by or under any other Act about the doing, supervision or control of residential building work, building consultancy work or specialist work.