Tell us what you think about a 10-year insurance scheme for new apartment buildings. We want to hear from developers, builders, insurers, apartment owners and people looking to buy.

We are working with industry to improve confidence in the NSW construction sector.

In August 2022, a Ministerial Advisory Panel representing industry, building owners and government recommended a new consumer protection for apartment buildings called decennial liability insurance (DLI).

DLI is a strict liability insurance product of first resort that covers critical building elements, such as structure, waterproofing and fire safety systems. It allows building owners to make a claim at any point in the first 10 years post occupation – even if the developer or builder are no longer trading.

We want to hear from you on how we can improve consumer protection for apartment owners by making DLI permanent and replacing the existing two-year Strata Building Bond Inspection Scheme (SBBIS) after a transition period.

We are seeking public feedback on proposed options to deliver this important protection.

Tell us what you think

Help us understand your thoughts on these options:

1. A mandatory 10-year insurance scheme that replaces the SBBIS scheme.
2. An optional 10-year insurance scheme available as an alternative to an updated SBBIS scheme.
3. No change – current SBBIS scheme continues and 10-year insurance scheme remains optional.

For more information, download the Regulatory Impact Statement or read a summary of the key points.

Thank you for your feedback

We are reviewing all submitted feedback, comments and any other consultation that has taken place as part of this review.

For updates on this consultation please check back here.

CLOSED: Thank you for your feedback. This survey is closed.

This survey has concluded.

CLOSED: Thank you for your contributions.

CLOSED: Thank you for your contributions.

Privacy collection notice

1. Who we are

Your information is being collected by the Department of Customer Service (the Department) on behalf of the Commissioner for NSW Fair Trading. NSW Fair Trading gives priority to protecting the privacy of your personal information, in accordance with the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (PPIP Act).

If you have any questions about this privacy collection notice, or how we handle your personal information, you can contact our Privacy team using the contact details at the end of this notice.

2. Why we collect your personal information

NSW Fair Trading is collecting your personal information for the purposes of understanding your thoughts on a 10-year insurance scheme for new apartment buildings to raise safety and quality standards of buildings in NSW and increase consumer protections.

3. The kinds of information we collect

We may collect the following information:

• Your name (if you choose to provide this)
• Your email address (if you choose to provide this)
• Some limited occupation information (if you choose to provide this)
• If you are registered for the Have Your Say site, the Department will be able to see your login or username, email address and hometown or suburb associated with your submission, even if you choose to answer the survey anonymously.
• Any additional personal information if it is provided in free-text fields or your submission.

4. Failure to provide information

Your information is provided voluntarily however if you choose not to provide your information, we may not be able to send you updates and outcomes of this public consultation.

5. How we may use this information

We may use the information we collect in the following ways:

• To create a report on the outcome of this consultation to ultimately raise safety and quality standards of buildings in NSW and increase consumer protections.
• To share your submission (including any personal information) with NSW Fair Trading.
• Internal administrative purposes, including providing you with occasional updates and outcomes of this public consultation (if you provide your personal information and agree for us to do so).
• To support more informed policy making, program management, evaluation, research, and service planning as it can facilitate more efficient service delivery for residents and businesses in NSW.
• To share you submission (including any personal information) with other parts of the Department, including the Data Analytics Centre, for the purposes of conducting analysis across all consultations and to refine our engagement methodology.
• Other directly related purposes.

6. Who we may share your information with

Your responses along with your name may be published in a report on the outcome of this consultation should you agree for us to do so. Your responses will be published anonymously without your name, or your responses will be kept private depending on what you have agreed to in this survey.

We will not disclose your personal information to anybody unless we are authorised or permitted to do so by law or where you give consent. Our Privacy Statement describes when this may occur.

7. Protecting your information

We will store and manage your personal information in accordance with the provisions under the PPIP Act. We have measures in place to help protect your personal information from loss, unauthorised access, use, modification, disclosure, or other misuse.

We will only keep information for as long as we need it to fulfil the purposes we collected it for. After which, the information will be disposed of securely in accordance with the State Records Act 1998 and any other applicable legislation.

See our Privacy Management Plan for more information about how we handle your personal information.

8. Your rights

Subject to certain conditions, you have the following rights in relation to your personal information:

• The right to request access to your personal information
• The right to request correction of your personal information

If you wish to invoke any of the above rights, please contact us using the details below.

9. Contact us

If you would like to make a privacy enquiry or complaint, you can contact us on (02) 9219 3999 or at BRDPRIVACY@customerservice.nsw.gov.au.