Complying with Regulation 47

This information includes, but is not limited to:

1. Details of all permits and certificates of final inspection issued during that month.
2. Any lapse of a building permit during that month.
3. Details to the knowledge of the Relevant Building Surveyor (RBS) of any building work commenced, completed or abandoned during that month.
4. Any extension granted during that month by the RBS under regulation 59 to the commencement or completion date to which the permit applies, and the new dates.
5. Any inspection of building work to which the permit applies at a mandatory notification stage under section 34 of the Act.

The VBA has recently been conducting an audit of BAMS data for compliance with regulation 47. This audit revealed there are a significant number of building permits where the lapse or extension of the permit, along with other information required by regulation 47, has not been reported on permits that have passed their statutory timeframe.

Non-Compliance Causes

Through the work of the VBA’s Building Audit, Levy Audit and Building Activity teams, the following issues were identified as causes for the non-compliance with regulation 47:

• RBS were under the assumption that the lapsing of permits are automatically reported through to BAMS without any manual intervention required.
• Lack of controls in place to ensure timely submission of prescribed events (PE) via BAMS (Building Activity Management System), especially where manual intervention was required.
• Non-reporting of lapsed permits when building works were completed, but Certificate of Final Inspection (CFI)/Occupancy Permit (OP) had not been issued.
• The non-reporting of the prescribed events occurring due to the incomplete extraction of PE data from the RBS’s permit software when the CSV file is generated.
• RBS was not aware of the status of the building permits, and did not have a process in place for monitoring permit/building work status.
• Unable to access building permit records where RBS left an organisation without getting access to their files for building permits issued under their individual registration or transferring the permits to another RBS.
• The RBS was not aware of building permits issued using their registration numbers, and could no longer access the building permit records.
• Instead of amending the existing building permit record in BAMS, applying for duplicate Building Permit Numbers (BPN) in error where amendments to application of building permits is received from the applicant.
• RBS software system issues resulting in missed reporting of prescribed events during transition of individual registration to corporate registration.

While the audit has been primarily focused on compliance with regulation 47 for lapsed permits, the audits have identified several other issues with reporting requirements. This included:

• Missing the OP or CFI Number when PE code 13 or 14 is reported via BAMS.
• Non-reporting of issuance of building permit along with other PE such as mandatory notification stages.

Achieving Compliance

What can you do to ensure compliance is being met?

• Have appropriate checks and balances in place to identify a permit’s imminent lapse so action can be taken as required by regulation 47(3), 56 and 57.
• Ensure CFI or OP is issued for each stage for a multi-stage project and include the certificate number when reporting PE via BAMS.
• Review the functionality of your building permit software to ensure that all prescribed events are being reported.
• Implement manual processes where building permit software system does not automatically report a prescribed event.
• Ensure permits are extended before their lapse date, or report permit as lapsed if applicant hasn’t applied for extension.
• If building work is completed and waiting on documentation required to issue the OP/CFI, ensure that the building is not being occupied.
• Implement processes to regularly review the status of building permits/building work.
• Establish processes to ensure that permits that have had a final inspection which passed has their OP/CFI issued and recorded, or where the final inspection has failed, that there is a follow up to ensure that the building work is brought into compliance, and not occupied or used until the OP/CFI is issued.
• Monitor system for duplications and ensure processes are in place to minimise duplication. Where duplication occurs, ensure that the unused permit number is marked as refused via BAMS.
• Building surveyors should ensure adequate oversight of building permit numbers being issued using their registration.
• Building surveyors should make sure that they have appropriate controls in place for the use of their registration number in BAMS.
• RBS/MBS should put appropriate measures in place for the transfer of permits when leaving a company/council.
• Building surveying companies/councils should have suitable measures in place for the transfer of permits when a building surveyor leaves, and exercise supervision to enable correct use of building surveyor registration numbers.

Building surveying companies/councils should ensure building permit numbers are only being applied for using building surveyor registrations of current employees who have been appointed as the RBS or Private Building Surveyor (PBS) under section 80.

The VBA will continue to conduct audits on building surveyors’ compliance with regulation 47 for lapsed permits and building surveyors have or will be notified of those BPNs where the status has not been updated to lapsed or extended. Building surveyors are also being notified of BPNs where a final inspection has occurred, but no CFI or OP reported. Other PE such as issuance of permit once a BPN has been issued by the Authority are also being audited.

Full details of regulation 47 reporting requirements can be found in the Building Regulations 2018. The VBA has also published a BAMS user guide for building surveyors (PDF, 6423.52 KB) and developed an online learning module. The VBA website also has a dedicated page of information on BAMS requirements.

If you require further information or assistance on reporting of prescribed events, please contact: BAMS@vba.vic.gov.au